Chaotic Bending
by Skyler-Kaiba
Summary: In this story, directly after the events of Sonic Forces in the Sonic canon and during the Ba Sing Se chapter of the Avatar timeline, Sonic is brought to Aang's world by an accident involving Chaos Control, but was unfortunately badly wounded before they teleported, which is why he is wounded when Aang and Katara find him. Rated T for now, for violence, may go up in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This fiction was written as sort of a celebration of the new Avatar series coming to Netflix, hopefully next year! In terms of Avatar's timeline, it takes place shortly after the Ba Sing Se chapter, as I want the characters to be a bit more developed. As I said in the CCC project, I would like the Sonic characters to come to Aang's world, as I am not sure that the bending would be as effective on Mobius; nor would the Avatar state be as potent, I wouldn't think. Anyway, if you think otherwise, tell me in a review and I will ensure that in the next big crossover I do like this with Avatar, whether it's with Pokemon, Zelda, whatever…I can be sure I have the facts straight. Since I have recently completed Breath of the Wild, I may take a stab at taking Korra there, but we'll see. I have seen almost the entire series. Don't think I missed ANY, but I can always go back and make sure. Have fun with this, and see you all in Chapter 2!

Chaotic Bending: An Avatar the Last Airbender and Sonic the Hedgehog Crossover

Chapter 1—Sonic's Heart, Infinite and From Mobotropolis to Ba Sing Se

One day, a few years after the Resistance had freed Mobius and ensured Sonic's safe return home, the Blue Blur himself was out enjoying a nice run. It had been a while since he had been able to do it, and it was a breath of fresh air to be able to do that without someone constantly watching him or having to worry about Eggman sending out squadrons of robots to end him. While he had hated having someone to accompany him all the time during the invasion, he had understood it.

Despite the fact that everything was calmed down, however, and the fact that everyone knew he was okay, Sonic often found himself having to stay radioed and carry his cell phone on him all the time, mostly just to keep Tails from worrying about him. He didn't have to call him all the time, but he could at least do his best to stay in contact, right? However, as the blue hedgehog rounded the next curve, Tails popped in on his earpiece and said, "Hey, Sonic, are you seeing anyone around you?"

Sonic shook his head and told Tails, "No, I don't see anybody except for the usual civilians picking up from Eggman's mess. Why?"

Tails explained to his best friend, "Well, my sensor net is going haywire. It's picking up energy readings on the outskirts. Would you mind go checking it out for me? Normally I'd ask Amy or Silver to go, but…. well, Amy's busy and as you know, Silver's gone back to his future. So…will you help me with that?"

Sonic chuckled and told him, "Of course I can help you with that, Tails! We both know Eggman's probably gonna keep his tail tucked between his legs for a little while after this last war. At least, I hope he does."

Tails gulped and responded, "…Yeah, me too. Listen, Sonic, if you don't want to do this, I could always send-"

Sonic cut him off and said, "Are you kidding me, little buddy?! Ever since the war ended, you know I've been bored out of my mind. I'll go check out the energy readings and call you back. All right?"

Tails sighed and responded, "Sonic…let me get everyone together, okay? The last time you went after energy readings alone, you nearly got pummeled to death and captured afterwards. So please…let me send a team with you. I know you're strong, but even you need help sometimes."

Sonic sighed and added, "So who are you sending?" Despite his insistence that he really didn't need any help, the Blue Blur knew better now than to overestimate his abilities. His fight with Eggman's Phantom Ruby clones had opened his eyes and taken him down a peg, as everyone had hoped it would. Though he was still fun-loving with a need for speed, his cockiness had, for the most part, gone.

Tails told him, "I'll call Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze and Silver. It's not anything against you personally, Sonic. I just worry about you. I'm sure you know that by now though."

Sonic chuckled and replied, "Yeah, a little too well. Listen, buddy…I know it's a little sudden, particularly since the war with Eggman was fairly recent, but…shouldn't you be calming down a bit from this overprotective streak?"

Tails shouted back, tears welling in his eyes, "I ALMOST LOST YOU, SONIC! I'm sorry if it seems like I'm overreacting, but I just…I can't go for the length of time I did without knowing what's happened to you. Okay? You're like a brother to me and…well, just for the sake of being honest and letting you know how I feel in case something happens…I wouldn't know what to do without you."

Sonic heard the burst of emotion in Tails voice and did what he could to soothe him, responding, "I know, Tails, and I'm sorry I let you all worry about me for so long, but…it's all Eggman's fault. And you KNOW it is. You were there. I was whisked away and locked up without a way to contact anyone." He trembled as he thought of the terrible six months where he had been locked away from all his friends. Whatever happened, he wasn't going to let Eggman bring him to that point of vulnerability again. He hated it.

A while later, accompanied by Shadow, Blaze, Silver and Knuckles, Tails joined up with Sonic and reminded him, "The energy readings may be Infinite or the Phantom Ruby, so we should be ready for anything. Nobody let your guard down. If it is Infinite, he's likely either severely weakened, or on the last leg of the Phantom Ruby's energy. If it's the latter, we may have to fight."

Sonic nodded and replied, "Don't worry, little buddy. If it _is _Infinite rearing his ugly mug again, I'll be ready for him."

Shadow nodded in agreement, "We'll protect Sonic as well." He had his pistol with him, but would hopefully not have to use it. His Chaos Powers were usually more than enough against opponents like Infinite. As the group approached the outskirts, a watch that Tails had placed on his arm began to vibrate as it picked up the energy readings his sensor array had pinpointed.

Knuckles jumped a bit and then replied, "Wow, you configured your watch into a scanner? You're getting handier by the day, Tails!"

Tails chuckled and replied, "Thanks, Knuckles, but it wasn't really that difficult. All I did was connect it to the sensor array by Bluetooth signals. Anyway, let's get a closer look."

The group resumed walking to the source and Tails stopped at the very edge of the perimeter, as the land leveled off into forest. He looked around and eventually found a hole in the ground, with claw marks around to indicate that something had recently dug underground in the area. He tensed and moved a little closer to Sonic, "All right, that was recently dug out…so everyone stay sharp. Whoever or whatever did that is likely injured. I'm seeing a little blood in the hole."

Sonic nodded and pulled Tails close, wanting to protect his best buddy. He told him, "If anything starts to happen, you run. Okay?"

Tails shook his head, "I don't know if I can-"

Sonic put a hand on his mouth and said, "I know a lot happened to me during the war, but you've gotta let me live my life, Tails. Okay? I appreciate that you care about me and I'm glad you wanna return the favor of being protective but…I'm older than you and I should be the one protecting you. It's cool the way things are, all right?"

Tails sniffled, but nodded and then gave Sonic a quick hug from behind, suddenly getting a sinking feeling.

Sonic rubbed his best friend's back, but before the two could even blink, Infinite appeared with the Phantom Ruby, behind them, and picked up Tails, throwing him against a wall. The Blue Blur growled and told him, "Oh, you're gonna PAY for that one!" He activated the Chaos Emeralds, as his loving and protective nature towards Tails went into full swing, also accessing his Super form.

Infinite chuckled and told him, "Oh, even THAT won't be enough. I'm not the only one who's returned. Metal Sonic…how about we show him what we can do, huh?"

Super Sonic looked confused and flew back a bit, moving closer to Shadow, Knuckles and Blaze in order to protect them from whatever would happen next, "What do you mean, what _we _can do? Don't tell me that you two have-?"

Metal Sonic explained to his organic counterpart, "Yes, Infinite and I have found a way to merge ourselves, thanks to the abilities of the Phantom Ruby. Now, granted…this is the last time we will be able to use this combined form…but we will use it for the whole reason that we got it in the first place. Are you ready for this?"

Super Sonic growled, "Bring it on!"

Infinite chuckled and then nodded, combining with Metal Sonic in a wave of yellow and red lights, the last of the Phantom Ruby's energy being used for the transformation. Now, standing before our heroes, was Chaotic Metal Infinite, a being more powerful than any Sonic had fought before. Though he was concerned about his ability to win, Sonic was going to give this fight his all, to protect Mobius and all his friends from this final corruption.

However, before he could even act, Chaotic Metal Infinite was right in front of him and stabbed him in the chest. Super Sonic, however, was not to be bested, and wouldn't die or let this beast rule over his planet, so he shouted, with possibly what was his last breath and all his energy pouring out of him, "CHAOS CONTROL!" Everyone in the immediate vicinity was teleported to a different planet, in order to preserve peace on Mobius. Despite the risk it might be to the planet he was going to, Sonic had faith that the beings living on that planet would handle things just fine, and lost consciousness, floating on top of the waters near the city of Ba Sing Se.

Not long after Sonic and friends, as well as Eggman, Infinite and Metal Sonic (because they only had one more use out of the Phantom Ruby and they chose to use it to injure, if not downright kill, Sonic) arrived in the sea, Katara and Aang were checking the shores for Appa, to see if the large bison had come over this way to drink. They found Sonic floating unconscious on his back and barely bleeding, a large bloody gash right down his middle. Katara gasped and ran over to the blue hedgehog, checking to see if he was alive. She gently placed a hand on his neck, and found a pulse, though it was very weak and thready. This young child had apparently lost a lot of blood, though how he had received the grievous injury, she did not know. She shouted to Aang, "Aang, can we stop the search for now?!"

Aang looked confused and a little mad and shouted back, "Why should we stop looking, Katara?! You know how important Appa is to me!"

Katara told him, "I'm well aware of that, Aang, but we've got bigger problems right now." She brought the Blue Blur ashore and began to clean him off, doing what she could to help him.

Seeing the injured Mobian, Aang gasped and asked, "Whoa…what is he? And how did he wash up over here?"

Katara shrugged and said, "I have no idea, but he obviously needs our help. Sadly, the cut on his torso isn't the only wound. We're better off getting him to a hospital."

Aang sighed and shook his head, "He's kind of a freak. I doubt very much that they'll treat him, Katara."

Katara shouted at Aang, "We should at least TRY to get him some help, Aang! I know you feel kind of helpless without Appa, but get a grip on yourself, okay?"

The shouting match between the two awakened Sonic and he groaned then yelped in pain from the gash on his chest, "What the heck's going on? Where am I?" Noticing that the blue hedgehog was awake and trying to keep him in good spirits, Katara told him, "You're near Ba Sing Se, the capital of the Earth Kingdom. I was kind of hoping you'd be able to answer the first one. Do you know how you got here?"

Sonic shook his head and then clutched the wound on his chest and coughed blood, his condition getting worse again because Katara had paused helping him to go argue with Aang. Noticing this, the water bender ran back to his side, feeling horrible for having left him in a lurch like that. She said, "Sorry, Sonic, I shouldn't have stopped yet, it's just that-"

Sonic cut her off quietly and weakly, "It's fine, Katara. You had some things to settle…" He soon lost consciousness again and Katara bound his injury. She told Aang, "Aang, stop being stubborn and let me get him back to the city. You and Sokka can keep looking for Appa, but this kid's gonna die if we don't get him medical attention NOW. I'm sorry for my strong words, but I think we're all a little upset about Appa being gone for the moment. We'll say things we don't mean. I'll see you later, okay?"

Aang nodded and told her, "It's okay. Just go get Sokka, okay?"

Katara smiled and nodded, "Okay, no problem. Do you think he'll be okay with meeting Sonic?"

Aang shrugged, "There's no knowing. I'm a bit surprised that the guy we found could talk really. I thought all animals were mute."

Katara responded, "Maybe it's some kind of divine prank? Anyway, I'll get Sokka and see you later." She walked away from Aang, still carrying the unconscious Sonic and asked Sokka to help Aang look for Appa. After some hours of searching, the two boys called it quits, as it was getting dark out and late.

Aang and Sokka went back to the city and found Katara weeping near the entrance to the hospital. Worried that the blue furry teenager that they had found hadn't made it, Aang raced to her side and placed an arm around her as he sat next to her on the bench. He told her soothingly, "Easy, Katara. I'm here. How is he?"

Katara told him, "He's resting. We managed to save him, but we cut it really close. If I hadn't brought him into town when I did, he might not have made it."

Aang frowned and looked at the floor, feeling regret for the way he had so casually disregarded Sonic, "I'm sorry…because you were arguing with me, you were delayed. If I had just dropped it about Appa, maybe…"

Katara grabbed Aang's jaw and forced him to look her in the eyes, "Listen, Aang…it's not your fault. I don't think that the 3 minutes we spent arguing would've made that much difference. Okay? Besides which, he was asking about you. He woke up a couple of times while the doctors were helping him."

Aang looked confused, "Why was he asking about me?"

Katara shrugged, "We won't know anything until he's awake again." She walked over to Aang and hugged him, knowing that the young Avatar probably harbored a little more guilt about what happened that delayed Sonic's healing than he was letting on. The young Airbender settled down and smiled at her, her hugs always helping him to feel better about things. Whatever happened, he felt like he and Katara were connected in some way other than bending…though how, he couldn't say for sure yet.

Chapter 1 Ending note: I am an avid Aang and Katara shipper, as well as a Sonic and Blaze shipper, though the second of the two is likely to get less attention since the story is in Aang's world. Plus, Legend of Korra kind of backs it up with Tenzen, Bumi and a few others that show up and are Aang and Katara's children. Sonic is never canonically paired with anyone, so I'm kinda leaving his options open here too.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry to have taken so long with this story and new chapter. A lot of stuff going on at work and at home, so it's hard to find time to write. However, I am going to do my darndest to finish up this story and then get it made into a webseries. I started another one like that, I know, but I learned my lesson on that. Don't try to simul-release, as burnout happens much faster if you try to do that. So, I will only post teaser audio at this point, if I do post anything. The Casting Call Club project is still lacking a lot of characters, and the deadline for auditions has been moved up to February 10th, so if you were wanting to audition and missed the first round, no worries. I will probably keep moving it up until I get a more complete cast. I also apologize for the bit of a cliffhanger ending last chapter. Left Sonic sleeping and in serious condition. But good news! He survives. I could never kill the beloved Blue Blur. He's one of my favorite video game icons. However, Tails and the others probably won't show up until either the last half of this chapter or the start of Chapter 3, simply because, as Katara suggested in her audition piece, they wound up in a different part of Aang's world. Also, I am going to do my best to stay true to the show, but some things will be noticeably different since Sonic is there and wasn't in the original.

Chaotic Bending

Chapter 2: Finding Appa, Jett and Lake Logai

The next morning, Sonic woke up with a wince and placed a hand on his chest, breathing hard. He looked over and noticed Aang asleep beside his bed and his eyes went a bit wide as he looked at the doctors. He asked them, "When did Aang come in?"

The doctors explained, "He showed up in the wee hours of the morning while you were still asleep. He said he was worried about you, and we didn't have the heart to ask him to leave, the poor boy looked so distraught."

Sonic chuckled weakly and nodded, "Thanks for explaining that. I wonder why he was so sad though."

A nurse suggested, "Maybe he thought you were gonna die?"

Sonic sighed and responded, "Yeah, given that he doesn't know me, it's entirely possible. I've gotta get out of here and find my friends."

The doctor sighed and shook his head, "You're in no shape to go anywhere, Sonic. Yes, we've stitched you up and you're on the mend, but that doesn't mean you're completely better. If you try to move too quickly, you risk ripping out your stitches. Give it a few more days, okay? When the stitches start to feel uncomfortable and tight, let us know and we'll CAREFULLY remove them."

Sonic nodded, letting out a soft sigh, but understanding the doctor's words, "All right, you win. Just do me a favor and let me know when Katara comes by. I could tell she was really worried."

The doctor looked puzzled for a moment, thinking, then asked Sonic, "You mean the water bender from the Southern Tribe, or what's left of it? Yes, I'll tell her. Was she the one that found you hurt at sea?"

Sonic told him, "Yeah, she and her boyfriend, Aang."

A nurse gasped and said, "You mean Avatar Aang is here?"

Sonic looked puzzled and a bit concerned when they mentioned his title, "What do you mean, 'Avatar' Aang? But yeah, the kid's here. What's his title got to do with anything?"

The doctor explained the bit of folklore surrounding the Avatar as best he could, "They say that the Avatar is a link between the Human World and the Spirit World, and has the ability to master all four elements, as well as talk to spirits."

Sonic nodded and then told him, "I see. Isn't that a lot of responsibility for a 12-year-old kid though?"

The nurse told him, "I heard that he was frozen in an iceberg for a time though, along with his sky bison, Appa."

Sonic gasped and said, "Appa…I heard Katara and Aang arguing about him when I first woke up here. Do you know why he's important to them?"

The doctor, having heard a lot of gossip about the last Air nomad, told Sonic, "He's like a family member to them, Sonic. He is young Aang's animal guide and companion. Without him, Aang more than likely feels a little lost."

Sonic nodded, "I can see why he got mad then. He sort of got mad for the same reason that I did if Tails got lost." Thinking of his friends now and worrying about them, the Blue Blur asked the doctor, "Did Katara and Aang find anyone other than me, that you know of?"

The doctor shook his head, "No, young Katara only brought in you, my boy. But don't worry, I am sure if your friends were with you, they will turn up eventually."

Sonic responded, "I'm sure they will. I just hope they aren't hurt."

The doctor asked, "Were they hurt when you all got brought over here?"

Sonic shook his head, "No, I protected them, so they should've been fine."

The doctor told him, "Then they probably still are fine, unless they got attacked by Fire nation soldiers. But that's highly unlikely. Fire nation soldiers don't attack unless they are provoked. They have been trained that way, fortunately."

Sonic nodded, "I'm relieved to hear that. Do you think it will take them long to find me?"

The doctor smiled and said, "Maybe, maybe not. It depends on how far they are from here. Our world is vast and wide. If they were on the entire other side of the planet, it could take several weeks for them to get here. If they were close by, it won't take them that long. If they were quite a distance away, but not quite on the other side of the planet, then it could take a few days. There's really no good way of knowing when you'll see them. But have faith that they'll find you, Sonic. If they care as much for you as you do them, you will find each other again."

Sonic smiled, a bit encouraged by the doctor's words, "Yeah, you're right. Thank you, doctor." He groaned again and lay down, his still-healing wound starting to hurt again. As he lay down, he heard the familiar voices of Aang and Katara just outside, talking to some boy he wasn't familiar with.

The doctor recognized the voice of Jett and nodded, "That's Jett. He came in here the other day complaining of a headache. I told him I couldn't do much other than give him a few herbs."

Sonic blinked, amazed by the coincidence, "He has the same name as someone from my world. Do you know if they act alike?"

The doctor sighed and responded, "I don't know about _your _Jet, but ours seems to be a bit brash, full of himself, and just an overall jerk."

Sonic chuckled and nodded, "Sounds like ours too. They aren't really that different. Anyway, can I _please _just go for a bit of a walk or something? I'm kind of bored."

The doctor told him, sighing and rolling up a rickety wheelchair next to his bed, "I can take you outside, but you don't need to move too much yet. Your stitches could tear. Are you wanting Katara to see you so she stops worrying?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, that and I want to see this other Jett. He sounds amusing."

The doctor chuckled and told him, "I don't know how much he'd appreciate hearing that he amuses you, but I'm glad he's keeping you relaxed. Let's go outside then." He carefully picked up Sonic and placed him on the wooden wheelchair. He then pushed him out onto the street so that Aang and Katara could see him as they searched the city for Appa.

A short time later, while they continued to look around the city, Aang and Katara saw Sonic sitting in his chair and ran over to him. Katara gave him a gentle hug and said, "I'm glad to see you're healing up, Sonic. I was really scared you weren't gonna make it…"

Sonic chuckled and touched her face, "Have a little faith in me, huh? I may be smaller than you, but that doesn't mean I'm necessarily weak. Okay?"

Katara smiled and nodded, "Right. Sorry to have underestimated you. Aang, do you have anything to say to him?"

Aang hugged Sonic gently and told him, "I'm sorry I completely ignored how badly you were hurt. I just…I'm worried about Appa and-"

Sonic cut him off, "Don't apologize. You've got a lot on your mind right now. The doctor explained to me about Appa, how he's like family to you and the rest of your friends. I'd help you look if I could, but…the doctor wants me to stay there until the stitches can be taken out."

Katara asked, "So…you're gonna have a scar?"

Sonic nodded, "More than likely. I do have one small favor I'd like to ask of you all though, if you don't mind."

Aang responded, "Okay, what is it?"

Sonic told him, "My friends are missing too, as well as Metal Sonic, Eggman and Infinite. Would you help me find them after we find Appa?"

Aang nodded, "Sure. And who are Eggman, Metal Sonic and Infinite?"

Sonic sighed and explained, "They're villains. Eggman's an evil genius bent on taking over my world, Metal Sonic is essentially an evil robot version of me and Infinite's a jackal mercenary that worked alongside Eggman to help him with conquering my world."

Katara asked, "Are they why you were hurt when we found you?"

Sonic nodded and related to them what had happened, "To make a long story short, yeah. If you wanna know what really happened though, Infinite used the Phantom Ruby to fuse himself with Metal Sonic and they became Chaotic Metal Infinite and stabbed me in the chest as Super Sonic. When I became normal again, the wound opened more, which is why I had the huge gash when you found me. Lucky you did though. Not sure if I would've made it without you guys."

Katara smiled and nodded, "We were glad to help."

Sonic then asked them, "Have you had any luck finding Appa?"

Aang shook his head and teared up a little, responding, "No…and I'm starting to wonder if he's okay…"

Katara walked over to Aang and hugged him, telling him, "I'm sure he's fine, Aang. You need to settle down."

A moment later, Jett wandered over and said, "You know, that was kind of rude, freak. You interrupted our conversation."

Sonic rolled his eyes and said, "That's like the pot calling the kettle black, man. You called me rude and then called me a freak all in the same sentence. Anyway, what did you want?"

Jett told them, "I might know where your friend Appa is."

Aang yelled at him, "If you know, then tell us!"

Katara gently patted Aang's arm, then looked at Jett, "How would you know where he is? I don't understand…"

Sonic knew that Jett wasn't normally this kind, as the doctor had told him what the boy was really like not long ago. He said, "Who knows? But if he knows something, we need to know that too. So where is he then, Jett?"

Jett told them, "Some underground place near Lake Logai. That's all I really remember."

Sonic looked confused, "All you remember? But if you were out that way, shouldn't you remember more?"

Jett responded, "Probably, but I don't. Not sure what's going on."

Sonic beckoned Jett over to him, wanting to try something. Though he didn't have the Chaos Emeralds, sometimes he could help people remember things by staring into their eyes long enough or tapping their forehead. Perhaps it was related in some way to having the ability to manipulate Chaos Energy and memories could sometimes cause chaos…but whatever it was, he was grateful for it. He hoped he could use it here to help the boy remember what had happened at Lake Logai. He told Jett, "Kneel down and look me in the eyes for just a sec."

Jett nodded and did just that. Sonic looked deep in his eyes and told them, "The memory's there, it's just been blocked. Normally, I'd help remove it, but I'm not at full strength right now. If I try this, I could lose consciousness." Being a good person despite what his earlier manner may have suggested, Jett told the Blue Blur, "Then don't worry about it if you'll black out. I'll probably remember what happened with time."

Katara nodded in agreement, "Plus, I'm sure the doctor wants you to take it easy until your stitches are out."

The doctor responded, "Yes, if you have abilities, wait to use them until your body's healed. Abilities of that nature often take a lot of energy and your body needs that energy to heal for the time being. So just relax."

Aang nodded, "I'd feel terrible if I asked you to put yourself out for Appa's sake, Sonic. You've already almost died because of me once. I won't have it again."

Sonic sighed and looked at the doctor curiously, asking him if he'd let him wheel himself over to Aang.

The doctor sighed but nodded his head, able to tell that Sonic was trying to appease the boy's guilt.

Sonic wheeled himself over to Aang and slowly rose to his feet, Katara rushing to his side and kneeling a bit to help hold him up. He told the young air nomad, "It wasn't your fault, Aang. I was already hurt and not by you. I know you weren't much help when you were arguing with Katara, but you had your reasons. I'm not mad at you. I can't be. You were missing your friend, and I understand that completely. Okay? Let it go. You're worried about Appa, and I get it. If you wanna cry, go ahead. No one's gonna blame you if you do."

Aang gasped and then hugged Sonic, falling to his knees and feeling himself about to break down and cry.

Sonic returned the hug and rubbed the boy's back gently, trying to help him calm down. He told him soothingly, "We'll find Appa and it'll all be okay. You'll see." He released the preteen and asked Jett, "Do you know where Lake Logai is?"

Jett nodded, "Yeah, I know where to go, though…I think you should stay here and rest, Sonic. Katara's having to help you stay up and I don't know if you'd be much use if things get nasty over there."

Sonic opened his mouth to object, but then shut it, knowing he was probably right. After a moment of annoyed silence, he finally said, though with a soft sigh, "All right, I'll stay here and heal up. But if you don't find Appa, let me know and I'll help you look." Katara eased Sonic back into the chair and looked over at Aang, nodding, "I guess we follow him."

Aang nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. Thank you for the hug, Sonic, and for the encouragement."

Sonic shrugged, "It's what I do, kid. You remind me of one of my friends, in some ways."

Aang replied, "I guess I'll take that as a compliment. But there's a lot more to me than meets the eye, Sonic."  
Sonic chuckled and told the boy, "Oh, I know. The doctor told me you're the Avatar. No worries though, I won't tell Eggman or anyone evil that came from my world."

Katara gasped, "Wait…it wasn't just you and your friends?"

Sonic shook his head, "No, Eggman, Metal Sonic and Infinite all were caught up too. Though where they ended up, I don't know. I don't have the best feeling about it though. Oh…and you know what? Considering that I need the Chaos Emeralds to be Super Sonic…they're probably over here too. That's a lot to find on my end of things too. First things first though, to find my friends after I heal up."

Aang nodded, "You can do that while we handle things at Lake Logai, or whenever you're feeling better. Good luck, Sonic!" He ran off, following Jett, Katara and Sokka, who had already started going towards the lake.

((A/N: Sorry to interject like this, but I'm probably gonna do a bit of skipping around here, cutting between Team Avatar and Sonic after he heals. As we all know, Sonic heals quickly, so it will only be an hour or two before the stitches come out. Which gives Team Avatar time to get to Lake Logai and figure out what's going on. It will probably be a lot of cutting between the fight and Sonic reuniting with Tails, then Knuckles, then Shadow, then Blaze and then finally Silver. Eggman, Infinite and Metal Sonic wound up at the fire nation capital and allied themselves with the fire lord. The Chaos Emeralds are scattered, as Sonic said. That happened as soon as they reached Aang's world, and they wound up in different areas. There are two in Ba Sing Se, but Sonic was too injured to notice. That and the Dhai Lee hold them. So, Sonic may have to fight the Dhai Lee before things are over, anyway. Moving right along now, and I apologize again for the interruption.))

Not long after they arrived at Lake Logai, Katara looked confused and looked around at the seemingly empty passage, "What's going on here?"

The leader of the Dhai Lee (whose name escapes me now, so I apologize) told Katara, "You are now considered enemies of the state for discovering this place. That's what's going on, my girl. Now, are you going to come quietly?"

Aang looked at Jett, glaring, "You led us into a trap, Jett!"

Jett looked confused and responded, "I was getting you some help. You said you wanted to find Appa. This is where I last saw him."

Katara sighed, "I don't think he knew this was the headquarters for the Dhai Lee, Aang. Let's just-"

The Dhai Lee leader told the two, "It matters not whether you knew this was here or not, the point is that you discovered it. You only have three options here: leave without Appa and your air nomad friend can get over him, leave with Appa and tell no one what you saw here, or we can kill you. Those are your choices."

Aang folded his arms and said, "And what if we don't wanna do any of that? What are you gonna do?"

The leader explained, "It's too bad. Make your choice, Avatar."

Aang glared, "How did you know that I'm-?"

The leader raised a hand to silence the young boy, "It matters not how we knew, air nomad. You make your choice or we will make it for you."

Before Aang could speak, a yellow fox-like creature flew into the cave system and positioned himself in front of Aang and his friends, telling the Dhai Lee leader, "Excuse me! _They _are the only ones who get to make that choice."

The leader chuckled at Tails and told him, "Oh really. Are you certain of that, young friend?" He waved to some of the Dhai Lee and they walked over to Tails, grabbing him by the arms.

Tails struggled and said, "Let me go!"

The Dhai Lee leader looked at Aang, "Make your choice now, Avatar. This boy could get scalped if you choose wrong."

Tails looked at Aang and shook his head, begging him silently not to make a choice that he would regret later on.

Aang, wanting the most peaceful solution, told the leader, "We'll take Appa and go. I don't want to be responsible for getting Sonic's friend hurt. But we'll only leave on one condition."

The leader smirked, but nodded, "And that condition is?"

Aang told him, "You release him so that he can be reunited with him. Sonic asked about his friends right before we left Ba Sing Se. He was so worried that he was going to push himself and try to follow us."

Tails heard this and teared up, relieved to hear that Sonic was alive. He sputtered out, "So he's alive?"

Katara smiled and nodded, "Yes, he'll be fine. You're lucky that Aang and I were the ones to find him and not the Firelord. He might've been taken captive if that had happened." ((A/N: I couldn't keep Tails and Sonic apart for very long. They are the true OG's of Sonic lore, so...reuniting them was a top priority when they reached Aang's world.))

Tails nodded, "Thank you for getting him help. Is he okay?"

Katara explained, "He will be with some rest. Based on how he was when I last saw him, he should be fully recovered before the day's out. It amazes me how fast your kind heals, Tails."

Tails shrugged, "It's just Sonic that heals that quickly. The rest of us have about the same healing time as you do. I think it has something to do with his Chaos manipulating power."

Katara looked confused, "Chaos manipulating? Is that kind of like bending?"

Tails explained, "Sort of. It's complicated to explain, so I'm not gonna even try. But rest assured, it's a great power to have for someone like Sonic."

Katara giggled and nodded, "I don't really understand, but okay. And you are?"

Tails told her, "Oh, right. I'm Tails, Sonic's best friend. And you?"

Katara explained, "My name is Katara, and I'm a water bender from the Southern Tribe. With me are my friends Aang, Sokka and Toph. We're also being followed around by Zuko, though for now he wants to keep his distance from us. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it's because of me and my history with the Fire nation. Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you Tails."

Tails nodded, "Pleasure's all mine. So, what's up...next?" He backed up into Katara as the Dhai Lee leader approached him, "Geez, what's this guy want?"

The leader explained, "I've never seen a fox that was able to talk before, young one. Do you mind if we study you?"

Tails glared and hid behind Aang, explaining to him, "Excuse me, I DO mind. And don't mess with Sonic! You mess with either one of us and I'll tell you right now, you're gonna pay for it!"

The leader chuckled at the young fox's words, unaware of the glowing purple eyes in the background watching his every move, "And just how, pray tell?"

Knuckles chose just that moment to jump down and punched the man in the jaw, forcing him away from Tails, "I think he means you'll pay for it by being arrested or something. Does your Emperor even know this place exists?"

The leader looked abashed and shook his head, "He has no idea. But...surely you all wouldn't-?"

Aang folded his arms and said, "Oh, don't doubt us, sir. We might just surprise you. Now, what's it gonna be? Let us all go including Appa, or a fight?"

The leader clenched a fist and then responded, "Looks like a fight to the death to me!" He summoned up some more of his Dhai Lee soldiers and said this phrase near Jett, 'Welcome to Lake Logai.'

Jett was triggered and began to attack Aang and company.

Aang yelped and jumped back, "What the heck?"

Knuckles growled, "I thought as much. Something looked wrong with that guy from the beginning."

Katara looked confused, "Whatever do you mean? And who are you?"

Knuckles explained, "The name's Knuckles the Echidna, little girl, and I mean that the Dhai Lee somehow altered your friend Jett's mind to serve them on the trigger phrase 'Lake Logai', though I'm not entirely sure how they did it. I've not seen much in the way of mind control, but if it's a trigger phrase, it's a very specific sort of mind control. Do you think you could break him out of it, or should I help?"

Sokka, dodging some attempted strikes at his chest, told Knuckles, "If you're gonna do something, do it already!"

Knuckles nodded, "Right." He activated the Master Emerald and tapped into just a small portion of its power, his fur going a brilliant magenta. He then approached Jett and jumped up behind him, placing his hands on either side of the boy's head, using the small bit of power to try and snap the boy out of his current trance.

It began to work, as Jett screamed and shook his head, shoving Knuckles away, "Get away from me, punk! What? What's happened?"

Aang, able to tell that Jett was pretty much normal now, responded, "A lot's happened since your mind went, Jett, but don't worry about all that. We'll explain that to you later. We must get Appa. Will you go and free him?"

Jett nodded, "Sure, Aang, no problem."

The boy proceeded down the passageway and found Appa tied down in a very large room. He had a bad feeling about this place, and wasn't entirely sure why. He shrugged and shouted back down the passageway, "He's over here, Aang! Come on in!"

Aang shouted back, "I'm coming!" He ran down the passageway, followed quickly by Tails, Knuckles, Sokka, Katara, Toph and the Dhai Lee soldiers they had been fighting.

Hearing the approaching people and creatures alike, Azula huffed, "There's a lot of them. But, my Dhai Lee brethren, I think we can handle this with the aid of those that already started it!" The Dhai Lee in her little 'throne room' as it were, leapt into action as well and a lot of fighting commenced between Team Avatar, Sonic's friends, and the Dhai Lee.

Aang, seeing that the violence was quickly escalating, sighed and shook his head, "The Avatar state might be the only way I can stay safe in all this craziness!" He closed his eyes and began to focus, forming a small water wall around him as he began to try and go into the Avatar state.

Seeing that Aang was in his most vulnerable position now, Azula cackled and said, "Take THIS, Avatar!"

Seeing what Azula had in mind, Tails yelled, "NO, AANG!" He flew into the air above the air nomad, effectively being a lightning rod for Aang to protect him while he finished accessing his 7th chakra. He plummeted to the ground next to Aang, shaking horribly and yelling in pain.

Katara gasped, "Tails!" She yelled at Azula, "How could you do something like that?! He's just a kid!"

Hearing the fury and concern in Katara's voice, Aang finished accessing his 7th chakra and fully embraced the Avatar state, his eyes and markings glowing a bluish-white. He told Azula, "That is the ultimate disregard for peace, harming a child as young as he is. You'd better hope that the spirits don't judge you too harshly for that, Azula." He karate chopped her on the back of the neck and knocked her out, then carried her above ground, using his native air bending to fly her somewhere she would be found and treated for all that happened to her. Despite her disregard for both Tails and himself, he was going to show her a small degree of kindness by allowing her to be found by a loving family to take care of her. He then returned to the caverns and went back to normal. He sighed and walked over to Knuckles, who was knelt next to Tails and watching him with concerned eyes. He asked, "Knuckles...will he be okay?"

Knuckles growled and carefully picked up the young fox, telling Aang, "I think so. But we need to get him to town to make sure. I'm barely sensing a heartbeat from him. Whatever lightning power it was that Azula used on him, it's really taking its toll."

Aang teared up and sniffled, not afraid to let his emotions out as much as some others, responded, "I'm sorry. I should've just waited to use the Avatar state."

Knuckles shook his head and placed a hand on Aang's shoulder, "Relax, it's not your fault. Tails chose to fly into the path of the lightning, despite how afraid he is of it. That should tell you something."

Aang nodded, "It does. It shows me that despite how little he knows, or knew, depending on whether or not he survives of course, he's really a great guy." He gasped and then added, "Oh no...and he's friends with Sonic! What if-?"

Knuckles placed his gloved hand over Aang's mouth and explained, "Sonic won't hate you for it, Aang. If I simply explain what happened, we should all be fine. But let ME do the talking when we get to him, all right? Is he okay, by the way?"

Katara explained, "He was hurt when we found him, but he's been patched up."

Knuckles told her, "That's good news. And how is your friend, Appa? Not too beat up by the Dhai Lee I hope?"

Aang ran to Appa's side and gave him a hearty hug, then responded, "He's fine. And thanks to what your friend Tails did, I can now use the Avatar state whenever I want!"

Katara giggled and nodded, running over to hug Aang, "I'm just glad you're okay! I was worried for a sec that Azula was gonna get you." She looked at Knuckles again and asked, "Do you mind letting me look? I might be able to help."

Knuckles told her, "If you think you can, go for it." He got out of her way, never one to refuse help for his friends.

Katara knelt next to Tails and placed a hand on his chest very carefully, listening to his heart and feeling for anything out of the ordinary with this young fox. She sighed and responded, "He has an arrythmia, I can't do much. The only thing I really CAN do in this kind of instance is try to stabilize and keep his heart from stopping. We HAVE to get him to Ba Sing Se."

Knuckles nodded, "I'll carry him there if you'll walk alongside me and monitor his heart rate. How bad is it?"

Katara explained, "It's way out of whack, so we don't have much time. It might be faster if Aang uses his air bending."

Aang nodded, "He put himself at risk to protect me, so this might be the spirits' way of saying I have to save him. Are you okay with this, Knuckles?"

Knuckles shrugged, "It doesn't matter what I think. What matters is that Tails lives to see another day, for the sake of his and Sonic's friendship. So, yes, I'm fine with you taking him. Good luck!"

Aang smiled and nodded to Knuckles, then gingerly took Tails from him and used his airbending to form an air 'surfboard' under him and Tails to ride the wind currents. He then began to 'surf' and made his way to Ba Sing Se as fast as he could. Upon arriving at the city, some of the police force came up and asked him what his errand was. He replied earnestly, "This young boy is badly hurt! Please, get out of my way, he needs a hospital!"

Overhearing Aang's shouting, Sonic walked outside the hospital and noticed Tails in his arms. He gasped and asked, "Aang, what's happened?"

Aang responded, with tear-filled eyes, "He got a bad shock, protecting me from Azula while I tried to unlock the Avatar state. You can get him to the hospital even faster than I could, I can sense that. Are you up to it?"

Sonic asked, "Shocked that badly by Azula? Who is she, anyway?"

Aang told him, "She's the daughter of one of the fire lords, but never mind about that! Are you up to getting Tails inside the hospital, or not?!"

Sonic shouted back, "I'm feeling fine! Now, please, hand him over!"

Aang nodded and handed Tails over to Sonic, hoping that they had acted fast enough to save the young fox. Sonic took Tails and raced inside the hospital, demanding they help his friend before "things got ugly." After Tails had been admitted and placed in a room, a nurse came by and took his pulse.

Upon noticing that his heart rate was wildly fast and not in any kind of regular rhythm, the nurse quickly called on a cardiac doctor, who came rushing into the room to help Tails. Sonic, worried because of the rush of activity, shouted at them, "Is he okay?! Is he gonna live?"  
The nurse shouted back, "We DON'T KNOW! Now settle down and go find something to do while we work on your friend. We'll let you know something as soon as we do, okay?"

Sonic sighed, but nodded and went sit in the waiting area, where Aang, Katara, Knuckles and the others waited on him as well. He then began to pace around the room, never one to stay still long and not liking that things were uncertain regarding Tails now. He asked Katara, "And you're sure there's nothing you could've done for him?"

Sokka told Sonic, "The heart's much more complicated than anything else in our bodies, Sonic. Not only is it a pump for blood, but it's also a small muscle with a slight electric pulse. So... that makes it harder for us to understand. But hopefully they've figured it out here at Ba Sing Se and can get everything going right for Tails."

Knuckles sighed and shook his head, knowing that this wouldn't reassure Sonic in any way. He walked over to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. He told the Blue Blur, "Tails has learned from you how to be tough. I'm sure he'll pull through. Yes, he got a nasty shock and is having heart problems right now...but he's got you, me and heck...even Shadow, assuming he got here safe like we did."

Sonic nodded and gave Knuckles a hug, needing it now. He told the echidna, "I know you're right, and I'm glad you're okay, too. I wasn't sure who all made it over here. Do you know if Eggman, Metal Sonic or Infinite did?"

Knuckles responded, "I know Infinite did. I caught him threatening some little girl...but, he ended up getting in over his he-wait a second..." He looked over at Toph and recognized her from earlier in the city as the girl that Infinite was picking on, "his head. The girl had the ability to do all kinds of interesting things with rocks, so I guess that's you, Toph."

Toph giggled and nodded, "At your service. I'm an earthbender. Yeah, there was some kind of creepy jackal guy with mismatched eyes, carrying some kind of gray rock."

Knuckles explained, "The rock he was carrying was probably the remnants of the Phantom Ruby. He used the last of its energy against us, so he _shouldn't_ be a threat anymore, theoretically. Though if he teams up with Eggman and Metal Sonic like he did before, he could be a real problem."

Sonic responded, "I dunno...it seemed like he just wanted to end things after that last attack. Kill himself and stuff. If that's the case, then we need to stop him. Suicide is never the answer if your life has no meaning or purpose. That's something he needs to learn. We need to give him purpose somehow, back home though, not here."

Aang nodded and added, "...If he really feels like he has no purpose...the Firelord might take advantage of that and recruit him as a soldier. And the firelord could care less about those under his command. That's something that Zuko told me when we first ran into him."

Katara groaned and told him, "Ugh, don't remind me of that loser. Anyway…Aang, you've mastered everything you need to except fire! Now you can go against the Fire lord!"

Aang sighed and responded, "Yeah, but…I wouldn't have gotten this far without the help of Toph and Tails. I at least wanna know how he is before we leave for the Fire Nation capital. And to help them find the rest of their friends. I get the feeling it wasn't just them. I sense more foreign energies."

Sonic asked, "You can 'sense' that?"

Aang told him, "Yes, Sonic. That's what being the Avatar means. Being able to sense when something isn't right. And…" He tensed and finished, "not all the energy is positive."

Knuckles explained, "You're probably sensing Eggman and Metal Sonic. And since Infinite isn't far from here, you might be picking up on him as well. Everyone stay alert."

Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph nodded their heads, more than ready if Infinite or any of the villains decided to make their presence known while they were busy.

A few hours passed, and nothing happened. A few minutes after the hour, a nurse came into the room and asked, "Sonic the Hedgehog?"

Sonic waved his hand and said, "That's me. How's my little buddy doing?"

The nurse told him, "He's stabilized now and resting comfortably. But he needs to stay here and rest for a day or two, and he's probably gonna have a scar where he got hit with the lightning."

Sonic sighed, "And here I thought I'd be the only one left with marks. Can I go see him?"

The nurse explained, "Yes, you can. Avatar Aang?"

Aang responded, "Yes, ma'am?"

The nurse told him, "He was asking about you as we woke him up. Are you feeling all right?"

Aang nodded, "He got hurt protecting me, so that's probably why he was asking. I'll go in there with Sonic."

The nurse replied, "Very good. Thank you." She followed Aang and Sonic into the room where Tails was, to make sure they didn't rile him up too much.

Sonic walked over to Tails and hugged him, relieved to see his best friend was going to be just fine, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you, little buddy."

Tails hugged back and replied, "Sonic, it's fine. You can't protect me all the time, and I'll be all right! The nurse wants me to take it easy for a while though."

Sonic nodded, "Take all the time you need, buddy. I'll run enough for the both of us."

Tails chuckled softly and nodded his head, suppressing a cough, "Yeah, I never doubted that. Aang, are you all right? I was afraid you might've gotten some aftershocks."

Aang told Tails, "I'm fine. Whatever lightning energy was left after that was broken up by the water wall I put up, because I managed to go Avatar state thanks to what you did! You're incredible…and thank you." He hugged him.

Tails rubbed his back and responded, "You're welcome, and it was no problem. We all must look out for each other sometimes. I could tell you weren't a bad guy from the beginning, so I figured…what the hey, why not protect him while he's trying to do his thing?"

Hearing the voice of Tails, Knuckles and the others came rushing in and Katara hugged Tails after Aang let go. She added, "Thank you for what you did for Aang! Is there anything I can do to help?"  
Tails told her, "Not really, I think the nurses and doctors did a good job of fixing me up. But…" He stifled a yawn and continued, "thanks for offering."

Sokka added, "Let's let him sleep, guys. He's had a long day. We all have. Why don't we all turn…in?" He heard the front door of the building open and told them, "Wait right here, I'll be back." He ran out of the room Tails was in and raced down the hallway to the front lobby, where he found Zuko inquiring about Aang. He glared and shoved Zuko into a wall, his hostility for the firebender now being displayed. He asked, "What are YOU doing here?"

Hearing the raised voice of Sokka with a hostile tone and worrying about what was causing him to yell like that, Katara came running to him. Seeing Zuko, she narrowed her eyes and shoved him, "He asked a question! Answer it!"

Zuko explained, "I'm here to teach the Avatar firebending. I know you're connected to him, so tell me where he is!"

Katara glared, "Your sister almost MURDERED a little kid! Why should we let you NEAR Aang after all that?!"

Before anyone had realized it, Aang walked up behind them and quietly said, "Because he's the only one that can teach me firebending. Isn't that right, Zuko?"

Sonic raced up next to Aang, "The kid's right, you're the only one who can teach him. But don't think I won't be watching you two. Your sister almost murdered my best friend. So excuse me for being a little skeptical about this whole thing."

Zuko nodded, "It's fine, Sonic. And I apologize for Azula. She's a bit…messed up."

Katara shouted back, "A BIT messed up? Try totally unhinged! Trying to KILL a kid who never did anything wrong to her? That's just all kinds of messed up. Do you know why she's like that?"

Zuko told her, "Yes, but…I'm not at liberty to discuss it, Katara. Now…are we going to the capital or not?"

Aang nodded, "We'll leave first thing in the morning, given that Tails feels up to it. I'll go check in with him." He went back to Tails and asked, "Do you think you'll be okay tomorrow morning?"

Tails told Aang, "Yeah, I think so. Maybe on our way we'll find Shadow, Silver and Blaze too, huh?"

Aang asked, "Are those three the last of the good guys from your world?"

Tails told him, "Yeah, that's all of the good guys. Eggman, Infinite and Metal Sonic are also here, but hopefully they were so far from the capital that we reach it before they do."

Aang shrugged and told him, "We'll see. We have no way of knowing where they ended up. Though apparently, Toph ran into Infinite. Which means…they might be on an opposite path to us, or…possibly even here in the city as well, but we'll just see what happens. If they reach the capital before us, they could team up with the firelord."

Sonic walked back into the room as well and said, "And that would NOT be good."

Aang asked, "Why not?"

Sonic explained, "Because Eggman likes to have things his way too…so, it could erupt into a fight, or…Eggman trying to find something to roboticize the Firelord with."

Sokka looked confused as he walked in, "What the heck is roboticize?"

Tails explained for Sonic, "It means he'll turn him into a robot. But…hopefully that doesn't happen."

Katara nodded in agreement as she entered as well, "Yes. If the most powerful of the FIrelords gets roboticized and it does what Tails said, things could end badly for us…and worst of all, for Aang. Even with the Avatar state, he would have a tough battle if Eggman were to do that."

Sonic told everyone, "And THAT'S my cue to go find the Chaos Emeralds."

It was now Toph's turn to look confused, "What are those?"

Knuckles explained, "They're seven ancient, powerful gems that enable Sonic to activate his super form. It's a form like Aang's Avatar state, but a lot more powerful and with more energy, at least…based solely on what I've observed from Aang. Might need to compare them side to side to be sure, but I think Sonic would be of more help if we had a roboticized fire lord. It might have to be a 2-part battle if your fire lord dude got made into a robot. But we'll just have to see how things go."

Sokka nodded and told them, "However it goes, I hope that things end with Aang and Sonic living. They're both pretty great."

Tails nodded in agreement, "You've got that right, Sokka. But, I should rest. I'll see you all tomorrow." He lay down in the bed and dozed off.

Everyone else in the room left, going to the hotels they had booked for the night to rest up for their travels to the capital of the Fire nation the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I apologize for misspelling Dai Li last time. I was super tired when I was writing it and not really paying attention to spelling. Anyway, I realized on looking at the events in last chapter, I hadn't considered the fact that Zuko was without firebending for a time. While that remains true in this story, Sonic and the others, including Team Avatar, are so shaken by their Dai Li encounter with Azula that they probably won't leave Aang alone with Azula long enough to teach him anything. So…to those of you who were hoping that Zuko would be the one to teach Aang firebending in the actual show, your wish has been fulfilled here. And to those of you who don't like this change…well, tough luck. I already said from the beginning that some things were gonna be different. Think about it for a minute and put yourself in Team Avatar's shoes…Aang was the original target of Azula, and if not for Tails' intervention, he would've been killed. They probably will be more likely to pick Zuko because they know that he can't really control his sister's actions, as much as he might want to. So…now, Sonic and Tails (as well as the other characters that don't normally wear clothes) will probably be given Fire Nation clothes to wear, just like Team Avatar, so they aren't gawked at and possibly stoned for public indecency. Sonic will be given something like what Firebenders wear, though with the pants cut into shorts and not belted. When explaining about Sonic's abilities to Zuko, Katara pretty much tells him that he 'runs very fast and has some strange kind of bending that I've never seen', referring to his ability to manipulate Chaos Energy and to what he did for Jett back at Lake Laogai. He will also be allowed to keep his own footwear, as no one wants to touch Sonic's feet (not that blame them, I wouldn't really want to either.) Tails will be given some clothes very similar to Toph's except no shirt since he would be considered a very young male child, and Knuckles will wear an outfit similar to Sokka's except no strings on his arms and his hair will be left untouched (mostly because Knuckles probably wouldn't let anyone near the dreads). Blaze will be wearing the traditional female firebender's outfit (like what Katara wears, just on both shoulders since her shoulders are so thin), Silver will wear an outfit similar to Sonic's, Eggman will be wearing the robes and armor of the noble class; Infinite will be wearing a Colonel's uniform, since after he picks on Toph he is recruited as an advisor to Firelord Ozai, and nothing will be put on Metal Sonic, since he is a very novel being to them and they wouldn't know what to put on him. Without any further ado, here is Chapter 3!

Chapter 3

Firebending, Ember Island and Sozin's Comet

The next day, Sonic and Aang were the first ones awake, and found themselves on board a stolen Fire nation ship. Confused, the Blue Blur asked, "What?! Why are we in the ocean? Where are we going?"

Zuko, who had been woken up by Sonic's shouting, explained, "We're on a Fire nation ship so that I can teach Aang firebending without interference, much in the same way that Toph did before you showed up, Sonic."

Sonic explained, "That's all well and good, but aren't you worried that Katara will try and stop you from teaching him?"

Zuko sighed and told him, "I know she has her objections, but he HAS to master Firebending if he is to stop my father."

Tails, who had been woken up by the conversation as well, added, "He might be able to stop _just _Ozai with the Avatar state, but what's he gonna do about Eggman and the new roboticization machine?"

Sonic spoke up and told Tails, "Tails, I'll help him out with Eggman. After all, it's my fault we're all here in the first place. I might as well take responsibility and break the thing down myself."

Zuko told Sonic, "That won't be necessary. We'll help you take him out, Sonic. I've heard a few rumors surrounding my father anyway."

Sonic looked confused and a little worried, "Rumors? What do you mean? What's happened?"

Zuko shouted, "They say that he's no longer himself. That he…appears to be no longer human."

Tails growled and glared, "That might mean Eggman's already gotten to him and turned him into a robot. I was hoping we'd be there before that happened…but I guess we're too late."

Aang thought a moment, then replied, "If that's so, I can't fight him in the Avatar state. Because like that, he probably can't use Firebending and it wouldn't be a fair fight. Is there a way to reverse the process, Tails?"

Tails sighed and nodded, "Yes, there is."

Zuko told him, "It's good there is a way, but I'm not entirely sure you should bother. He might try to kill Aang once he's broken free of that."

Sonic responded, "Maybe, but…with roboticization, he's more likely to try and want to kill /me/, so…either way he'll be trying to kill a good person."

Katara spoke up from the doorway and said, "There's also another problem we haven't thought about yet."

Tails asked, "And what's that, Katara?" He looked at the girl confused, as the two problems he was certain of had already been addressed. The young waterbender explained to Tails, "Sozin's Comet. Whenever it comes by, all Firebenders receive a power boost."

Zuko replied, "That will make the fight difficult for Aang, but I think he could still win."

Toph also spoke up, "Yeah, he still could. He did surprise us all back there when he spared Azula. Anyway…shouldn't we take a break before approaching the capital? I know that I, for one, am getting tired of all this running around."

Zuko told her, "I knew we could all use a break, so I booked us a small hotel on Ember Island. There's also a small troupe putting on a play there. They're called the Ember Island Players and apparently they heard about some of your journey, Aang."

Aang groaned, "Just what I don't need…a reminder of what happened before we ran into Sonic."

Katara giggled and shrugged, "Who knows? It might be kind of entertaining. Plus, it'll help Sonic get to know us a little better, don't you think?"  
Sonic smiled and nodded, "Yeah, plus it would tell me why Aang's so flighty all the time."

Aang glared at him, "You call _me _flighty? At least I have a sense of responsibility about things, unlike you."

Sonic glared right back and replied, "Oh, I know how much is at stake here, Aang, believe me. I just try to not to let it bother me. Unlike you."

Zuko walked in between the two and gestured with his hands for them to stop, "You guys stop this arguing now, or I won't teach Aang anything!"

Sonic opened his mouth to object, but then shut it and ran around Zuko, playfully jabbing him on the shoulder and telling him, "Calm down, dude. I'm sorry if you feel I insulted Aang, but that's not what I was trying to do. I was just trying to point out to you that Aang needs to learn to deal with his emotions a little better. If he goes to the Firelord and fights him with his emotions broiling like they are now, it won't go so great for him. Particularly if Ozai's been roboticized."

Katara nodded in agreement, "He's right, Zuko. You can't properly teach Aang firebending either if you go into it all hot-headed. So maybe we're better off getting him to a more spiritual area. You know, like…a dojo or something?"

Zuko shook his head, "If we go to a more peaceful/spiritual area, I'm likely to fall asleep. Sorry if that's insulting to say to you in any way, Aang, but I've always done things better on the move. Is that okay with you?"

Aang nodded, "Of course, Zuko. Or should I say 'Master?'"

Zuko raised an eyebrow and shook his head, "No, just keep calling me Zuko. _Prince_ Zuko's fine, but I'm only five years older than you are, Aang. It'd be like a toddler calling an elementary schooler their mom. Just weird." He then looked to Katara and asked her, "May we be left alone now so I can start, or are you going to stand there and stare at us all day?"

Katara sighed, "I don't know if I trust you two by yourselves yet."

Zuko explained, "But I'm not comfortable with a waterbender like yourself watching me either. Especially when there's water ON ALL SIDES, like now. So please, do me a favor and go inside. If you want, Sonic can watch everything we do and then report back to you if I did anything suspicious. Does that sound like a fair trade?"

Sonic folded his arms, "You mean stand here…in the middle of the ocean, and watch them beat each other up?"

Katara shook her head, "No, they're not beating each other up. Zuko is teaching Aang firebending. There's a difference. Now, are you going to be useful or not, Sonic?"

Sonic sighed, "I…I guess…" He looked around him, never very comfortable that close to the water.

Aang could tell Sonic wasn't speaking much from nerves and pressed slightly, "Is there something wrong with what Katara is asking you to do?"

Sonic explained, doing his best to stay calm, "Not with the request _itself_, just with what's around me now."

Aang looked confused, "Why? It's just water."

Sonic shivered and then added, "I'm sorry you didn't learn this about me from the beginning but I'm _hydrophobic_."

Katara heard this and her eyes went wide, though internally, she was laughing hard at Sonic. She then asked, "How long have you had this fear?"

Sonic told her, "For as long as I can remember. Why?"

Katara replied, "No reason, just wondering. Should I get Tails out here instead so that you don't have to deal with too much?"

Sonic nodded, "I'd appreciate it. Thank you, Katara." He went back inside the ship, passing Tails on the way and asking him to keep an eye on Zuko and Aang for Katara, as he was already miserable enough being at sea.

Tails nodded and went to the two benders, watching Zuko teach Aang firebending. It took several days, but eventually they reached Ember Island and Aang mastered firebending. It was then, that they all took some much-needed rest, in order to prepare for what was to come. After they had relaxed for a week at Ember Island and seen basically a re-enactment of the first part of Aang's journey courtesy of the Ember Island Players, the group was ready to move on and fight the firelord.

However, they didn't quite leave Ember Island soon enough and Sozin's Comet began to shoot across the sky, granting extra power to all the Firebenders in Aang's world.

Seeing this, for some reason, made Sonic super nervous, and he ran around Aang's world, except for the parts that were in lava, about twice before he felt he needed to stop. He told Aang, as the young air nomad prepared to leave Ember Island, "Aang….with Sozin's Comet here _and _him roboticized…I'm not entirely sure our odds of winning are that great. I'm not saying we _will _lose, but that possibility is there. Are you ready for it?"

Aang nodded, "I will accept whatever fate happens to me. It's _my _responsibility as the Avatar to make sure our world keeps it's balance. You'll need to help me do that, though, Sonic. Are you sure you're up to it?"

Sonic smirked and nodded his head, "Of course. I've got all my friends to help me too. There's _no way_ that your world's gonna fall to the whims of that Robotic Firelord. Not if we still draw breath. Right, guys?"

Tails chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, Sonic's right. You've been good hosts to us, Aang. The most we can do is to help you make sure that your home stays the same, or at least, close to the same as it was when we found it."

Zuko frowned and shook his head, "The war with the Fire Nation was already beginning to change the world. Even if you _do _defeat my father as he is, the war fundamentally changed everything this world once knew." He looked at Aang with pity and said, "We wiped out one civilization, reduced a few to mere ghosts of what they once were…and other places were industrialized when they used to be just villages or towns. Nothing will be the same, no matter how much we might want that to be true. So…as nice as that would be, Tails...it won't be."

Sonic nodded, knowing all too well that war changed even the people involved in it. He told Zuko, "You're right, but the stories of the way things used to be will continue to exist so long as you guys all live and remember how things were. So, the past will never really die. It'll just take a different form."

Tails' eyes went wide and he told Sonic, a bit surprised, "That's…actually a really good way of looking at things, Sonic. Since when did you get so wise?"

Sonic chuckled and shrugged modestly, his usual cockiness nonexistent because of what had happened to him at the hands of Infinite, "The war with Eggman taught me a thing or two."

Shadow spoke up, having found his way to them on his own with Chaos Control, "I think it taught us all something, Sonic."

Blaze nodded in agreement and told Sonic, "Yes. It taught us to treat each other kindly, because we never know when they might be taken from us." She walked over and hugged him, her eyes filled with tears because it had been so long since she had seen Sonic.

Sonic smiled and hugged her back, "Aww, hey, Blaze. I missed you too. Is Silver…?"

Silver spoke up from behind Blaze, "Yeah, I'm here too. We all got dragged here, Sonic. You know."

Sonic nodded, "Yep, all too well. So are we all ready to take on this overpowered Firelord?"

Shadow replied, "Ready as we'll ever be, Sonic."

Aang added, "You all take care of the robotic components. Once that's done, I'll need you all to back off. It's my fight as the Avatar and protector of this world. Fair?"

Sonic sighed but nodded, out of respect for Aang, "Okay. We can do that. But please, if you get injured, let one of us step in to help you. Okay? There's nothing worse than seeing a kid get beat up."

Aang sighed and told Sonic, "Fine. Now, are we all ready to leave in the morning for the capital?"

Sonic nodded, "I think so."

Knuckles then responded, "I have the Master Emerald too, if you think It will help at all."

Aang shrugged, "I don't know. We probably won't know anything about how it will help in the fight until we get there. If we're all ready, then let's get loaded up on the boat back to the capital. There's not anything better to do around here." He walked to the boat dock, quietly followed by everyone. Though he knew this was his fight, he was somewhat relieved he didn't have to face it alone now.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry it's taken so long for this part. It took a very long time to figure out the semantics of this fight, due to the roboticization that Ozai goes through, and the fact that Sonic is here as well. Because of these facts, the fight itself has been broken into two parts and two chapters, one part a chapter. The first is this one and part 2 is the next one. The ending chapter, or Chapter 6, will see Sonic and the others recovering from the fight and then them combining their powers as Super Sonic, Super Shadow and Super Silver with those of Aang in the Avatar State, the firebending powers of Zuko, to send everyone who belongs to Mobius back to Mobius, while ensuring that those who don't belong don't get sucked in. While I have debated on making a sequel with Korra, I am not entirely sure on it yet, as I want to wait and see how this does. Without any further ado, let's get this going!

Chaotic Bending

Chapter 4: Freeing a Roboticized Firelord

Later that night, Aang, Sonic and all their friends docked at the Fire Nation Capital. However, before Zuko would let them off the boat, he took Sonic and friends aside, while Mai took all the girls aside. He told Sonic and friends, "You will need some clothing on when you enter the capital. Maybe it's unusual to wear clothing in your world, but here, you could be stoned for public indecency, and I am pretty sure you want to live to help Aang fight my father. So, Mai and I bought some clothing for all of you to help you fit in. I bought for the boys and Mai bought for the girls. We didn't mind doing this, as we are very rich and could afford to help you all out in this way. Sonic, why don't you come up first and try what I've customized for you?"

Sonic groaned, but nodded, "As long as it doesn't involve wearing pants, fine." He went over and stood near Zuko, so the young firebender could put clothing on him. Zuko rolled his eyes but nodded and handed Sonic the outfit he had prepared by some of his family's tailors. It was very similar to that of a traditional firebender, except for the pants being cut into shorts and him not needing to wear a belt, as Katara had explained to him that Sonic ran very fast and didn't like feeling confined. Zuko explained, "You know, the outfit kind of matches your shoes. Not bad looking at all."

Sonic smiled and nodded, "Thank you, and I'm glad you cut it into shorts. I don't mind wearing them if they won't slow me down too much. Do you mind if I test them out by running around the ship?"

Zuko shook his head, "Not at all, feel free to do that. We wouldn't try to stop you anyway, given what your friend sacrificed to protect Aang. How is he, anyway?"

Knuckles frowned and then spoke up, telling Zuko, "He'll be all right. He's still resting, but he should be fine by the time we reach the capital. I've been helping him heal with the Master Emerald's power, figuring that we might need his help with the Firelord."

Sonic frowned and then dashed outside, looking out over the water as he remembered what had happened at Ba Sing Se. If he had just moved a little faster, maybe Tails would be okay. Before he could beat himself up too much, however, Zuko came up behind him and said, "Sonic…you're not to blame for what happened to Tails. It's as much my fault as it is Azula's. If I had known she would do something like that…."

Sonic shook his head, "It's nobody's fault but hers. Where'd she run off to anyway?"

Zuko reminded him, "She didn't run off, Aang got her some help, remember? I know you don't think she deserved to be spared, but you need to learn the truth about my family."

Sonic glared over at him and shoved him down, "I DON'T CARE! Your sister almost killed my best friend!"

Zuko glared right back and shouted back, "SONIC! I'm SORRY, okay?! If I had known that Tails would get hurt in the process, I would've stopped her."

Sonic folded his arms, "Really? Then how come YOU didn't move in to protect Aang?"

Zuko told him, sighing, "It's…complicated."

Sonic shook his head, "Not from where I stand, it's not. If you really cared at all about Aang, you would've stepped in."

Zuko frowned, "I…I didn't step in because it reminded me of my father's failures, okay? There, you happy now?"

Sonic responded, "Not quite yet. What do you mean, 'your father's failures'?"

Zuko explained, "We were trying to get the air nomads to see that our way of life wasn't a threat to them. That the Fire Nation didn't seek to consume…but then, my father…he got so enraged with some of the monks that...he had the rest of the Air nation wiped out. Aang's the last of his kind."

Sonic sighed, "I see, so that's why you two clashes so badly. But tell me…did Aang watch you kill them, or…?"

Zuko shook his head, "No…from what I vaguely remember as a child, the rumors were that the last of the Airbenders were already wiped out. I didn't know that Aang and Appa had escaped until we moved to conquer the Southern Water Tribe, and that was several years ago."

Sonic glared, knowing from how Knuckles had spoken about being the last of the echidna tribe, how tough it could be, "Look…I may not know anything about this world…or the specifics of politics for this, but it can't be easy for Aang knowing that he's the last of the air nomads."

Knuckles, who had followed Sonic to make sure Zuko and he wouldn't get violent with each other, added, "Yeah, and I know what it's like to be the last of your kind. There's a certain type of…burden. One that you'll probably never know, Zuko, being part of a powerful empire. But It's a feeling I can easily identify with. I can't imagine how afraid he must be right now, having to face a powerful man like your father knowing that once he dies, there won't be any more Air nation."

Zuko sighed, "Look, I get it. Nothing is easy for Aang right now. But, please…let him finish his training with me. Part of his role as the Avatar is to master all four elements. He's not quite reached the *Mastery* level, but he is getting very close."

Sonic smiled and nodded, "I see…I'm glad he's had an easy time. Why don't you go back to the other guys now and finish handing out their clothes? I'll be fine."

Zuko asked, "Are you sure you don't need me to explain Azula?"

Sonic shouted back, "It's FINE! Go!"

Zuko's eyes widened, but he nodded, "All right, I'm going." He ran back to Aang and the other males, Knuckles following him, though with a final glance back to Sonic, wondering if the Blue Blur might've been a little homesick.

Aang spoke up once Zuko got back and asked, "Zuko, is Sonic okay?"

Zuko explained, "I think Sonic's just a little homesick and feeling responsible for what happened to Tails. The sooner you guys defeat my father, the sooner you can focus on finding a way to send them back. Am I right?"

Aang shrugged and looked at Zuko skeptically, "Yeah, I guess. But whatever happens in this fight, we've gotta make sure that Sonic and his friends stay somewhere safe. They are very furry…"

Zuko's eyes went wide as the thought occurred to him, "You make a good point, Aang, but Sonic was very determined to help you. I don't think he's gonna care if he gets set on fire or not."

Aang rolled his eyes and sighed, "I already owe them for Tails protecting me though…"

Knuckles told him, shaking his head, "Tails didn't want you to think you owed us anything. It's just in his nature to want to keep others safe. He learned that from watching Sonic, I think. Don't worry about it so much, okay?"

Sokka nodded in agreement, "Besides, you didn't force him into it. _He's _the one that got in the path of the lightning. So don't worry about it so much. Let's just focus on defeating the Firelord now."

Aang told him, "We've already figured that part out. Together with Katara, Toph, Zuko and Sonic and friends will fight him while he's a robot, then I'll jump in once they've separated the robot parts. It probably won't be easy for anyone though, given that Sozin's Comet is now in effect. There might even be some horrible injuries and burns while they're trying to do that…"

Knuckles responded, "Let's hope not, but there might not be any way around it, either." He put on the clothes that Zuko handed him and turned to Shadow and Silver, who had also put on the clothes that Zuko gave them. He then told the Prince, "It looks like we're all set. Are you sure the best idea was to storm the capital?"

Zuko nodded, "It's our best chance. I didn't tell you this initially because I didn't want to worry you all more, but Azula's helping with this too, using the Earth Kingdom to help break down the walls and strengthen our position." He then looked over at Sonic, who had wandered back in. He sighed and told them, "And now I need to go finish up with Aang. But before I do that, let me tell you all my plan."

Shadow replied, "All right, we're listening."

Zuko told Sonic and his friends, excluding Blaze because she was female and with Mai, "So, the basic plan is to have Katara use some of her water bending to entangle my father, while the rest of us do what we can to melt away and crush the metallic parts of my father's body, basically purifying him into his old self. Does that sound like a plan?"

Sonic nodded, "It does, but we need to be careful. He has firebending too, and his power is very great because of Sozin's Comet. Despite anything we might try, he could still do a lot of harm even if we manage to contain him to one area. Are we all prepared for what might happen in there?"

Aang flinched, but nodded, "I'm prepared for it. Just one thing, Sonic…"

Sonic looked confused, "What is it, Aang?"  
Before the Blue Blur could utter another sound, the young air nomad ran to Sonic and gave him a tight hug, worried that he wouldn't be able to express his feelings for the hedgehog much after this. He told him shakily, "Thank you all for being such a large help in finding Appa and…could you apologize to Tails for me?"

Sonic shook his head, "Tails doesn't blame you, Aang. You had no idea that Azula would do something like that, okay. Just let it go. You're welcome, too." He patted the boy's back, knowing that in being the Avatar, Aang could have some foresight into the fight that no one else had, "No matter what happens with Ozai, just know that I consider you a good friend, okay?"

Aang smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Sonic. And…you're mine, too, even if it's a little weird." After a short while, the boys and girls regrouped inside the boat to have a short briefing before entering the capital, and then they went into the large metropolis, Zuko leading the way because of his position as the son of the Firelord.

However, something was odd about the capital. It was eerily silent, and some of the buildings were busted and broken. Zuko's eyes went wide as he walked around the city, worried that something might have happened. He then saw the typical Kiyoshi warrior hat and he gasped, "Oh no, don't tell me…" He ran around, looking desperately for Azula and hoping no harm had come to her. They found her clutching her arm and crying near one of the broken buildings. Shadow asked her directly, "What happened here, bitch?"

Azula glared, "I'll pretend you didn't call me that, filthy hedgehog. Anyway…Eggman came through here and roboticized my father. He tried to roboticize me as well with this…" She held up her arm, which had a metallic gray sheen to it as if something terrible was happening inside her. Zuko looked over at Sonic, Tails and Shadow curiously as they seemed extremely bothered by the look of it. He asked them, "What the hell is happening to her?!"

Sonic sighed and explained, "Nothing for now. Apparently Eggman tried to roboticize her and was less than successful. Though if someone doesn't tend to her, she will become a robot. Tails knows how to reverse it, but he's out of commission right now. The next person we know that would know how to reverse the effects of this thing is Eggman, but he's not likely to, given what he's trying to do here."

Aang, picking up on that Sonic knew more about Eggman than anyone else, ran at the Blue Blur and tackled him to the ground, telling him as he hovered over the hedgehog and tried to throttle him, "And _what _is he trying to do and _why _do you know?"

Sonic coughed and told Aang hoarsely, because of the strong pressure on his throat, "He's trying to do to your world what he did to mine…conquer it. He roboticized the Firelord so he wouldn't have any more obstacles. I know how his mind works because I've fought him so long. Kn-Knuckles.."

Knuckles, able to tell that Sonic was struggling to even breathe because of what Aang was doing, quickly made his way to the teen and grabbed his arms, yanking him roughly off the Blue Blur. He told the boy, "Now, calm down, Aang! This isn't Sonic's fault and you know it. When you've been opposed to someone for as long as Sonic has been to Eggman, you start to learn a few things about them. I know this firsthand."

Shadow and Silver nodded in agreement.

Mai spoke up and said, "Whatever we're going to do to stop Eggman and your father from taking over the world, we'll need to act now, Zuko. We don't have a single second to waste!"

Zuko nodded, "Then let's get moving with it. Aang, I'm sorry if you take offense to Sonic helping us, but we don't really have a choice. You said you wouldn't be able to have a proper fight with my father the way he is anyway. Let's get moving with things!"

Everyone else nodded and the group proceeded to request a visit with the Firelord, with the help of Zuko.

Ozai seemed all too happy to grant the request, and soon Sonic, Silver, Shadow, Knuckles, Toph, Zuko and Katara were all escorted into the throne room. Aang was told to return to his school since he was dressed in such a way as to indicate that he was from a school. He nodded and went there, not really wanting to leave, but having the feeling that if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to focus on the fight ahead. Ozai told him, "Well, my son…you seem to be doing better for yourself these days. And you've made some friends I see…but I do not recognize them."

Zuko informed him, "They joined me and Uncle Iroh in Ba Sing Se. You know that many folk in Ba Sing Se are unusual, father."

Ozai nodded, "So it would seem. But I have never seen humans with quite so much…hair on their extremities."

Zuko rolled his eyes, "Must you be so rude, father? You're the Firelord. I would think you'd try to treat your guests with honor and respect, much like you'd like them to treat you."

Ozai shrugged, "What have they done to deserve respect? Nothing that I am aware of, my son. Now…what was this about?"

Zuko boldly told him, "I've come to earn your respect again, father! The Avatar was slain by Azula, and I happened to bear witness to it. We no longer have anything to worry about from him."

Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but Sokka covered it and shook his head, telling the blue hedgehog to keep silent about the fact that Aang was still alive. If they found out, it was only going to be more trouble for them. PIcking up on the fact that Sokka and Sonic were discussing something under their breath, Ozai wandered over to them and asked simply, "Have some interesting news to tell me, boys?"

Sonic responsed, "Oh, uh...nothing, Firelord Ozai. We were just discussing a few rumors we heard in Ba Sing Se that were also common when we visited Ember Island. Nothing really interesting." He looked to Sokka with a pleading look, trying to persuade the teenager to back him up should the noble not believe his every word. Sokka nodded in agreement and told Ozai, "Yeah, that's all it was. Just silly gossip. Sonic, I know you're still young and impressionable, but you can't believe everything you hear."

Playing along with Sokka's fib, Sonic told him, huffing and mocking offense, "You're only ONE YEAR older. What difference does that make?"

Katara, also wanting to get Ozai off their case, added, "In Sokka's case, it makes a lot of difference, Sonic. It's one more year of combat experience. It may not seem like much, but in this world, you'd be surprised." She then glanced over her shoulder at Toph and subtly nodded, signaling her to get ready to jam the large doors in the throne room shut once Zuko had talked the other nobles into leaving the room. Zuko told them, "Why don't you all go and see the gardens? They're very lovely and I don't know if my father gave you the full tour ever."

One noble responded, "Oh, your son is so lovely, Ozai. Would you mind if we did? I know it's interrupting things, but a more thorough look at the grounds wouldn't hurt anything, I don't believe."

Ozai sighed and nodded, "All right, Zuko. I think you have piqued their interest. You must give them the tour of the palace top to bottom. Then take them to Eggman. After that, you may proceed with whatever you please to do. I must report to Eggman my progress."

Zuko gulped, but nodded, "Yes, father." He left with the nobles, going to give them a grand tour and subtly nodding to Katara and Toph.

Somehow missing their signal, Ozai continued speaking with his advisor for a few more seconds, then dismissed him. The man left the room and once Ozai was completely alone, Katara told Toph, "NOW!"

The large stone doors of the throne room slammed shut, trapping the Firelord, Katara, Toph, Sokka, Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, SIlver, Sonic and Tails (who had rejoined them once they had entered the palace) inside. Ozai glared and demanded, with a robotic tone, "What is happening? Do you think you have outsmarted me? Sozin's Comet is overhead, so even without being in direct contact with it, my powers are amplified."

Sonic explained, "Simple, my good man. We're freeing you from Robotnik's evil grasp. While normally I wouldn't care to de-roboticize you, this is Aang's fight, and I'm gonna do everything I can to make it easy for him. Now...you gonna make this easy, or go back to normal the hard way?"

Firelord Ozai said, still monotoned, "What is easy and what is hard?"

Sonic told him, "Easy way is that you let us knock you out and remove anything robotic. Hard part is gonna be putting up a fight. I don't _think _you want that, but if you start it, don't think we won't finish it." He crouched down, preparing to fight Ozai, as he had a feeling the man wouldn't go quietly.

Katara nodded in agreement and prepared her water.

Knuckles and the rest of Sonic's friend also prepared for a fight.

Sonic started the fight by charging at Ozai and kicking at his arms, thinking that if he injured him enough, he might be able block the firebending. Alas, it was not to be. The Blue Blur barely put a dent in the FIrelord's newly titanium arms and he laughed, "Nice try, hedgehog, but that's not really going to help you all." He grabbed him by the neck and started strangling him.

Tails, worried for Sonic, immediately acted, flying in to punch Ozai in the face so he'd lose his grip on Sonic, "Stop! Let him go!"

Ozai lost his grip and narrowed his eyes at Tails, "How DARE you interfere with me! Take this!" He flung a very large fireball at the two-tailed fox.

Tails barely managed to dodge in time, his shoe catching fire and he screamed in pain as the burning rubber touched his foot. He had to land, as the pain was becoming too great to bear. Seeing Tails like this, Sonic growled and lunged at Ozai, looking at his other friends and yelling, "Let's GET HIM!"

About halfway through the fight, Sonic was preparing to launch himself into a series of homing attacks at Ozai, when, after a harsh punch from Knuckles, he rose to his feet again and flung an EVEN LARGER fireball at Sonic. He managed to get some of himself out of the way, but was partially burned. The fur on the left side of his body was completely burned off and angry second-degree burns were also now present. Despite all this though, the Blue Blur panted and chuckled, telling him, "I'm...I'm just getting started..."

Seeing Sonic's severe condition, Silver shook his head and used his telekinesis to move Sonic to a safer area, "You're not fighting him in that kind of condition, Sonic. I know you wanna keep going, but if you keep fighting him at this rate, you could get killed. Please, back off."

Sonic shook his head, "Over my dead body will I back down. I promised Aang."

Tails teared up and walked over to Sonic, hugging him gingerly because of the burns and telling him silently, "Sonic...I know you want to keep fighting, but Aang will understand. He knows everyone has their limits."

Zuko, who had managed to temporarily stun his father with some lightning bending, responded with a nod, "He's right, you know. It's never a good idea to fight with injuries. Besides, the last thing...my other friend would want is for you to die in an entirely different dimension from your own. Leave the rest to us Sonic, I implore you."

Katara nodded, able to tell that Sonic was more than just burned, he was severely dehydrated and in a lot of pain, "Please Sonic...just let me and my friends finish this off. You can help us defeat Eggman when we find him."

Sonic, sensing that Katara was very worried, assured her and everyone else that had spoken, "I've got more left in me than you think, guys. Please don't worry so much. Let me help for a little while longer at least. Then I'll back off. Okay?"

Silver sighed and asked, "How long is that?"

Sonic told him, getting an idea and smirking, "Probably about 3 minutes. I just came up with something."

Blaze groaned and said, "Oh no, here we go..."

Sonic chuckled, "What? Sure, my plans may not always be the BEST, but they tend to work out in the end, so there." He softly explained his plan to his friends, then nodded, "And break."

Ozai smirked and nodded, "Glad you finally got your focus back, blue boy. Ready to be a barbecue?"

Sonic chuckled, "Nice words, but not today, Ozai.'

Ozai told him, "Oh, why not?"

Tails flew over and grabbed his arms, picking him up, "THIS IS WHY!" He then flung Ozai out the window with as much force as his 13-year-old body could muster. Though it did break off a few of the robotic parts, it didn't completely free him from the roboticization yet. After that, Ozai tried to grab him, but he was just out of reach.

Wanting to help Tails out and buy him some time, Sonic crouched down and prepared to launch himself at Ozai, despite being hurt already. He told Ozai, "Yoo hoo! Over here..."

Ozai looked over and rolled his eyes, "You don't scare me, hedgehog. Unless you're saying you want me to *add* to your injuries. In which case, I will HAPPILY oblige."

Sonic smirked and told him, "You may have a lot of power thanks to your little rock friend up in the sky, but I have my own power. And I'm using it to PROTECT. MY. FRIENDS!" With these words, the blue hedgehog ran at his top speed, ignoring the burning protests from his injured body, and Homing Attacked Ozai, right where Eggman had hooked up the robotic power core on his body, which the young hedgehog had spotted on his shoulder and shouted to Tails painfully, "Grab it, Tails! Now!" A lot had happened at once, and Ozai had grabbed one of Sonic's back quills in the process of the Homing Attack, his speed increased thanks to Eggman's machinations, and burned him even worse. However, while Sonic had him distracted, the fox flew in as well and grabbed this core from the scuffle, throwing it to the ground hard and nodding to Knuckles and Shadow in quick progression, telling them silently to come destroy it.

Knuckles nodded and darted over to where the core part lay, shouting and then punching it with all his might. It didn't completely shatter the thing, but it did splinter it a bit. He then nodded to Shadow and stepped back, knowing of his history with Eggman and how much the ebony hedgehog wouldn't mind helping teach Eggman a lesson before they left this world. Shadow aimed his pistol at the robot core and shot it, then threw the gun down and used his Chaos Spear attack to make doubly sure that the core wouldn't repair itself. He nodded, "The source of the power for the robotic components is destroyed. He should be himself again in a matter of moments, Zuko. Why don't you and Katara go and find...our other friend? His part is coming up."

Katara nodded, "I'll get Sonic out of here too. He's pretty banged up, and so is Tails. I can't heal them both myself, but I'll get Tails to a hospital in the city while I use water bending to rehydrate Sonic and soothe his injuries." She looked to the barely conscious Sonic and asked cautiously, "Are you okay to walk?"

Sonic shook his head, "My ankles are badly burned. I can barely move at this rate..." He coughed and then let out a painful gasp. Katara quickly raced to his side to check his breathing, hoping that the last attack on him by Ozai hadn't placed him in respiratory distress, placing her hands cautiously on his chest and scanning him. Tails asked, his own eyes tearing up as well, "Katara, is he-?"

Katara shook her head and responded, "He's not dying, but his airways are badly burned. He's lucky he got that last attack off." She picked up Sonic and told everyone, "I'm taking Sonic to Ba Sing Se to heal. It's where he first arrived in our world, and probably where he has the fondest memories of our world. I won't stay there, I'll be back here to help our other friend in case he needs me after fighting your father, Zuko. But if he's going to find the things, he calls the Chaos Emeralds that are supposed to help him get home, he will need all of his strength to do that, as well as our assistance. Toph, Sokka, you two come with me. Zuko, you stay here and support Aang. Okay?"

Zuko nodded and responded, but then heard a girl clear her throat and looked around, "Who did that? Toph?" Katara set Sonic down and looked around, wondering also who had made the universal sound of annoyance. She told Zuko, "It wasn't me. You know I don't sound like that."

Toph shook her head and told Zuko, "It wasn't me either. I think it was the purple fire cat lady."

Blaze told him, "Yes, Toph is correct. It was me that cleared my throat. The reason that I was trying to get your attention is because I don't want to leave with you all. I want to stay here and help Aang in Sonic's place. He does want to stay and help Aang, I can tell that just by looking at him. But as we all know, he's in no shape to be doing anything like that. So I'll be a good friend and represent his interests in this fight. If that's all right with all of you."

Sonic teared up, but nodded his head, saying weakly, "Thanks, hon. You're such a doll..." He then coughed. Blaze made her way over to the Blue Blur and hugged him gingerly, telling him, "You're welcome, Sonic. Now, rest. You were hurt pretty badly."

Sonic responded, "Yes, ma'am." He knew he was in good hands with Katara. She had been nothing but welcoming and comforting since he had a first arrived, and was grateful to her in more than words could say. When he dozed off, Katara picked him back up and said, "I'll be sure to send Aang your way. How long do you think you can keep him busy, Blaze?"

Blaze smirked, "Quite a while. He's not the only one with powers over fire."

Shadow nodded, "You may have similar powers to his own, but do be careful not to underestimate them. It seems like they are on a completely different level than yours are."

Zuko added, "Shadow's right. As much as you control fire, you cannot control lightning. He has access to those powers as well, which is why we will need...more backup." He didn't mention Aang's name, as it would only put a damper on their plans.

Blaze nodded, "You and I will keep him busy until that backup arrives."

Katara shouted back, as she nodded to Toph to unblock the doors, "I'll tell him to hurry then!" She raced down the darkening corridors of the palace, noticing that it was now approaching sunset. She looked at Sonic, who had begun violently shivering in her arms, more than likely his burned skin aggravated by the cool night air. She sat down on a bench to take a break, and a noble happened to see her, and told her, "That poor boy. He looks like he's in quite the bit of pain, dear. Were you taking him somewhere?"

Katara told the noble, "I was just taking him somewhere to heal privately. I'm a waterbender from the former, conquered Southern Water tribe and can do that myself. Though...his burns are pretty extensive, so...I might end up taking him to the hospital here in the capital anyway, but...I want to do everything I can first."

The male noble that had accompanied this noble woman, spoke up as well and said, "I thought the art of waterbending had been lost completely. I'm glad to see that it's not the case though. Tell me, little girl, how long have you known this boy?"

Katara sighed and said, "Only for a few weeks, but he's got a good heart. His actions alone tell me that. He...sacrificed a lot to make sure a friend of mine could help free our world and put it back in balance."

The female noble told her, "That sounds like the Avatar. Are you friends with the Avatar? I thought he had been killed. At least, that's the rumor."

Since Ozai was about to be finished off, though taking care to keep her voice down just in case, Katara saw no harm in mentioning it to this old couple and told her, "It's merely that though. Yes, I'm friends with Avatar Aang, and he's very much alive. It's thanks to one of _his _friends..." She tapped Sonic gently on the wrist to indicate him, "that he is. But never mind about that. Just lead me into the gardens or the library where I can heal Sonic here privately and I'll be all right. After that, I'll go and get Aang and we can free this world from the iron fist of Firelord Ozai. Oh...and just out of curiosity, did either of you happen to see a man in a red lab coat come this way?"

The man told her, "I saw someone like that in here a day or two ago. He's not here now, but he left cackling...was it last night, dear?" The woman added, affirming what he said, "Yes, he left last night laughing up quite a storm. We asked him what was so funny, but he would not elaborate. He had two others with him. One was a black wolflike creature and the other was a blue...machine guy? That's the best way I can describe them. Why, is it relevant?"

Katara nodded, "It is. They came from the same world that _he_ comes from. Sonic wants them all sent back, but we can't really do that until Aang is sure everyone has recovered sufficiently from..uhh...tough situations." Before any more could be asked of her, the young waterbender retreated to the gardens to heal Sonic, while Blaze and Zuko led Ozai to the more mountainous region of the Fire Nation, not wanting to harm innocent civilians in their scuffle with him. After healing Sonic, Katara made her way to the school Aang had been instructed to go to and had him called out of class. She told him quietly, "Sonic and friends freed Ozai from Eggman, and Blaze and Zuko are keeping him distracted while they wait for you. They're both firebenders, so they're probably fine for now, but...it could get to be too much for them, so...will you go help now? Everyone's backed off."

Aang nodded and removed the headband, which caused some of the students and administration to gasp and whisper to each other. A student then said, "But the rumors were that the Avatar had been killed. I don't understand."

Aang told the boy simply, "You were lied to. I'm just fine, but I have something I have to go take care of, okay?" He hugged the boy, who he had befriended in his short time here, "You just promise me that you'll keep your chin up and do your best to be brave, all right?"

The young boy nodded and told him, "Okay. Good luck, Avatar Aang!"

One of the teachers heard the boy shout this and ran over, asking Aang, "Is it true that you're the...?" She had been one of the few teachers that had actually taken a liking to Aang, despite his somewhat shy attitude.  
Aang nodded his head and before he could bat an eyelash, the woman hugged him and said, "I can't imagine the burden of responsibility you have...I'm sorry it was all on you, little boy..."

Aang groaned and told her, "It wasn't your decision. I was born into this. I've accepted it and you need to as well. Now, let me go and face my destiny, okay? I can tell you've grown to like me, so please...don't try to stop me."

The woman shook her head, "I wouldn't dream of it, dear. Just try to take care of yourself, okay? Based on that tattoo on your head, I'd say you're the last air nomad. Am I right on that?"

Aang nodded, sighing, "Observant about every last inch of me, I see. Yes, I am."

The woman told him sympathetically, "I can't imagine what it must be like to be the only one of your kind. If you ever need anything from me, sweetheart, don't hesitate to look me up. I live here in the capital, though more on the outskirts. It's a house full of cats, so you can't miss it. Good luck in whatever you're pursuing."

Aang told her, "Thank you. I need to go now." He left the school and headed north, heading for the mountains where he would meet up with destiny.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I am getting ideas for finishing this faster than with any other story I've done. Not sure if that's good or bad, but it also means I'll be able to release the series sooner, right? Anyway, this chapter finishes out the fight with Ozai and has everyone that wasn't injured in the fighting with Ozai, tracking down Eggman and Infinite. Metal Sonic is in this chapter, as he didn't go far from Ozai since Sonic was there. Once all the Sonic characters are reunited and they get the Chaos Emeralds and all that, they'll be ready to go back. So, potentially it could make this 8 chapters instead of 6 or 7 like I originally intended. Hope that you are all having as much fun reading this as I am writing it! Let's get going.

Chaotic Bending

Chapter 5: Flame of Destiny, Crossroads and Suspicions

A few hours later, Aang caught with Zuko, Blaze and the Firelord, finding them fighting near a large lake of lava inside the volcano near the edge of the Fire Nation territory. He asked Zuko and Blaze, yelling since they were still some distance from him, "How's it going, you two?"

Zuko, relieved to see Aang, shouted back, "It's going fine! I'm glad you could make it, Aang! We need some help with this!" He then yelped and dodged a lightning blitz that his father had tried to hit him with in his moment of distraction, getting a minor shock from it, basically static because of how close he had been. Aang, seeing Zuko's predicament of being stuck between a rock and a hard place (Ozai and the lava lake), quickly jumped in to help and used his famous Air Scooter to quickly close the distance between the fight and himself. Once he was closer, he saw also that Blaze was having slight difficulty and asked her, "Are you okay? The air flow in your body is a little disrupted."

Blaze explained breathlessly, "Ozai cracked my ribs…it's….hard to…breathe, right now."

Aang's eyes went wide, knowing that breathing was an essential for life. He turned to Zuko and the Firelord and shouted, "Zuko!"

Zuko responded quickly, still dodging his father's fireballs and punches blow for blow, "What's up, Aang?"

Aang reminded him, "This is MY fight now, okay? Besides, Blaze is injured. She has cracked ribs and is having a hard time breathing, let alone fighting. Would you please take her to where Katara took Sonic? I know you wanna help me, and I appreciate that, but…I think this is something I NEED to do alone." He stayed protectively in front of Blaze, just in case the Firelord got any bright ideas of trying to attack an injured person.

Unknown to anyone in the lava lake, Eggman and Infinite had been silently watching from the Egg-O-Matic, just above the mouth of the volcano. He had plans for whomever won this bout. If it was Ozai, he would make him a security chief. If it was Aang, he'd roboticize the boy and use his innate ability to control the spirits to try and cheat death, essentially. Infinite quietly asked Eggman, "Doctor, are you sure that you want to try and control something as unpredictable as the Avatar? What if the Avatar state, simply overpowers the roboticization and forces it to shut down or something?"

Eggman told him, "Infinite, my friend, you are a genius, but I have accounted for everything. There's NO WAY that anything 'spiritual' like the Avatar state can affect my robots. The two are a contradiction."

Infinite smirked and folded his arms, "Are they really though? I mean, some people might see technology as extension of divine will. Or have you not heard of these people?"

Eggman chuckled, "Oh, I've heard of them all right, and they're utter fools."

Infinite sighed and shook his head, "Even computers have their flaws, Doctor. Don't blame me if your plan regarding the boy fails. And you know that as long as Sonic is here, he won't let anyone hurt Aang. You saw them interact."

Eggman nodded, "I did, but Sonic is too badly injured right now to stop me from stealing the Avatar. So, once he finishes the Firelord, I will signal you and you need to knock him out. All right?"

Infinite thought a moment, then responded, "Won't it be almost impossible to sneak up on him with his innate ability to sense spirits?"

Eggman shook his head, "I wouldn't think so. But you get to test that out, Infinite."

Infinite glared, "So I'm your guinea pig now, great. Well…drop me here and go to the meeting point then. I will see you later, Eggjerk."

Eggman rolled his eyes, "Yeah, smell you later, Zero."

Infinite growled and responded, "My name is _Infinite _now, you hear me? INFINITE!" He then jumped down from the Egg-o-matic and landed behind a large pillar of stone, to stay hidden from Aang, Zuko and the Firelord. This way, once the dust had settled from the fight and there was a clear victor, he'd be able to sneak in and knock out the Avatar, or just carry him out, without being noticed.

Aang nodded, "Let's get this going, Zuko." He shot Zuko a sly look, to which the firebender nodded.

Zuko responded, "Right." He looked to his father and told him, "I hope you enjoy bathing in lava, father." While he was talking, Aang used Earthbending on the Firelord and shook the ground underneath Ozai's feet to knock him over. He then formed stalagmites around the Firelord's arms and legs to trap him. Ozai gulped and told him, though smirking, "Well, looks like you've got a fire inside you as well, Avatar. More than any of your other cohorts from the air nomads, am I right?"

Aang teared up and clenched both fists, enraged by Ozai's confession that he had been the one to finish off all his people. He yelled, "WHY?! WHY DID YOU KILL MONK GYATSU? HE NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU!"

Ozai narrowed his eyes, "I had my reasons, boy, but none of them do you need to be made privy to." To get Aang to release him, he used his firebending to superheat the rocks and broke free. He then leapt behind Aang and smacked him HARD on the back with some direct contact firebending, making a very bad second degree burn in the small of the young boy's back. Aang yelled in pain and fell onto his face, glancing back at Zuko.

Zuko glared and growled at his father, "All right, enough of this!" Before he got far though, despite her injured ribs, Blaze leapt in to help and told the Firelord, "I'm not through with you yet, idiot! Yes, you injured me but don't think I'm done. This fight is far from over." She deftly dodged the fireballs he threw at her and then kicked him across the face. Before she could pull off another maneuver however, Ozai dodged her flames, came up behind her and grabbed her foot as she was in the air, preparing to use her Burning Blaze form. Confused by the Firelord, Blaze asked, "What are you-?"

Ozai told her, "I'm making sure that NO ONE interferes with my fight with the Avatar, dear girl. Yes, I injured your friend and you feel you need revenge. But that is pebbles to what must happen to the Avatar. Therefore, you leave me NO CHOICE!" He then tackled her to the ground and kicked and punched her right ankle with extreme force, causing it to break. She then screamed in pain and looked pleadingly over to Aang. Seeing her so hurt was the last nail in the coffin for the Firelord in some ways.

Before Blaze or Ozai could even blink, Aang activated all his bending abilities, and every element around them began to swirl (yes, like in the original fight, earth, air, water and fire began to circle around him) around the boy's body. Amazed by the sight, Ozai dropped Blaze and quickly made moves to stop this.

However, it was not to be. Aang had tapped into the Avatar state and there was no going back.

After many hours of fighting, and getting exhausted from all of it, Aang, not wanting to kill because of the vow he had made to never take a life, yelled and once again trapped the Firelord in stalagmites. As he had done in Ba Sing Se, he made a crystal-like structure around himself using nothing but the raw earth and began to concentrate, talking to the spirits about what to do. One of the ones he talked to, advised, "It may be best to remove his ability to bend. We spirits are all angry that a human of Ozai's caliber is able to firebend."

Aang responded, "But then…if you don't like it, why did you give that gift to him in the first place?"

Another spirit answered, "It was because of Avatar Roku. We all had a soft spot for him and hoped that Ozai would be able to continue doing wonderful deeds given his lineage. However, he is proving to be more of a disappointment than we originally thought. How is that boy that protected you by the way?"

Aang told her, "Oh, Tails? He's fine. Don't worry. Anyway, so it's all right for me to take away his bending?"

There was a slightly insane giggling noise, then a female voice said, "Yeah, you're fine, don't worry. We've all kinda had it out for Ozai since he betrayed his lineage. What's up with being in the same bloodline as a former Avatar and being a disappointment anyway? It's like…he got the shallow end of the gene pool or something. Anyway, do what you want, Aang. You have our full permission."

Aang sighed and nodded, "All right, thank you." He then opened his little 'crystal fortress' and saw Zuko injured, slashed on the arm. He immediately intervened and shook the ground underneath Ozai, causing him to drop his friend. He shouted to Zuko, "Go, I've got this!"

Zuko nodded, but then ran to Aang and hugged him briefly before leaving, looking on the young boy as sort of a little brother rather than just another traveling companion by this point. He told him softly, "Don't get killed."

Aang nodded and hugged him back, "I won't. I've got the spirits protecting me and all the elements. So I'm fine." He then looked back at Ozai and asked, "Now, where were we?"

Ozai smirked and the fight resumed.

Many hours later, Aang did as the spirits had asked and removed Ozai's firebending, quickly bringing it to a close. However, due to the immensely long fight and feeling extremely exhausted, the preteen collapsed not long after Ozai did.

Eggman blinked and asked, "Who won then?"

Infinite responded, "Since Aang was the last one to pass out, I'd say he did. But never mind about the winner, let's grab the kid before his friends or Sonic come and collect him. We can't let this kind of power slip through our fingers, Eggman."

Metal Sonic nodded and added, "He's correct, Eggman. If we roboticize HIM, we'll be able to control all the elements and use them to make a ship to go back to our world."

Eggman rubbed his hands together and responded, "Both of those sound amazing. Metal Sonic, you go and grab Aang and bring him to my lab on Ember Island. I should be able to roboticize him within a few hours once I get the roboticizer repaired. Roboticizing the Firelord created a few glitches in the system."

Infinite responded, "It was only because he was more powerful than it was. And like I warned you before, we need to be cautious when roboticizing him. The last thing we need is a glitched up gateway or to crash the whole lab because there was some type of overload. This needs done with precision."

Eggman nodded, "Right. Let's get going then." He left with Aang.

Knowing that the fight between Ozai and Aang was probably over by now, Zuko made his way back to the lava lake, but found only his father. Aang was nowhere in sight. Shaking his barely alive father, the Prince demanded, "Where's Aang?!"

Ozai answered weakly, "I…don't know. I think someone took him…but I don't know who it was. He had some…type of…lab coat." He then passed out and Zuko told Katara to take his father to the hospital to be healed while he saw about having his father discredited and for him to inherit the position as Firelord. Once all was said and done, Zuko became Firelord and told the local authorities, "Search far and wide for the Avatar. He's a very good friend of mine, and if he's been hurt…whoever did it will have hell to pay."

Sonic, now feeling better thanks to Katara's healing, responded, "I have my suspicions about who took him…and what they intend to do."

Zuko nodded, "If you don't mind, would you share your suspicions, Sonic?"

Sonic sighed and responded, "I think Eggman took Aang and intends to roboticize him and use him as a weapon against all of us so he can conquer the world. When he's determined enough and recently faced a tough setback…he tends to make rather insane plans. Me and my friends pretty much gave him a run for his money before we got here so…he's trying to make up for that loss. Will you let us handle this alone?"

Zuko shook his head, "No. You and your friends are the reason that he's still alive and very much intact. So please…accept my help as thanks."

Sonic nodded, "All right, we'll make a few plans." He dashed out the door and went to go run, wanting to release some restlessness from the time he had been confined to his bed from being badly injured by Ozai. As the sun began to set, Zuko, Sonic, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Shadow, Silver, Knuckles and Tails all gathered in the gardens of the palace, preparing for a small conference to discuss ways to rescue Aang without being noticed. Sonic and his friends knew it would be tricky, as Eggman always had security on his bases, so it would require quick, methodical thinking.

"However we rescue him, it has to be stealthy. If we're not careful, we might get caught too and there's no telling what he'd do to us then." Sonic informed them, knowing exactly how the 300 IQ man's mind worked.

After figuring out the best plan, the group disbanded from the gardens to go rest and prepare for the rescue. It wouldn't be easy, but they couldn't leave Aang in enemy hands.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Wow! This is such a thrilling story to write! It's been a while since I've had this much fun writing, lol, j/k. Anyways, this chapter will have the rescue and de-roboticization of Aang, the beginning of the search for the Chaos Emeralds and Infinite betraying Eggman. You might say that seeing the pain that Eggman causes Katara and Aang causes him to start questioning things and he has an existential crisis, which causes him to not be in the story for a few chapters, but he does come back later.

Chapter 6

Freedom, Missing Pieces and Purpose

At Eggman's lab on Ember Island, Aang woke with a soft groan in the room that Eggman had locked him in. He looked around and noticed that he was in an entirely different location, though he was still in quite a lot of pain since he hadn't been healed from his fight with Ozai yet. Where was Katara? Who had brought him here? Before he could leave the room to ask what was happening, Infinite showed up and smirked at the boy.

The canine mercenary then said, "Ahh, good, you're awake. Come with me, Avatar Aang. It's about time you took up your true purpose."

Aang glared, "If you think my purpose is to serve your boss, Eggman, you're dead wrong on that. I'm here to bring balance to this world, not to set it up for conquest by another madman like Firelord Ozai." He used his bending and formed his Air Scooter, trying to ram down the door to the room with brute force. However, this did not work, as the door was barred, made of iron and locked from the outside. It didn't even dent it.

Metal Sonic soon came in as well from the other side and told Aang, "You might as well just give in and serve the Doctor. It will be a lot less painful for you if you just do what he tells you to instead of trying to fight him."

Aang folded his arms, "I should be allowed to decide that. Not you…whatever you are."

Metal Sonic growled and made his way to Aang, picking up the young boy by the throat and slamming him into the wall to help prove his point, "You don't get to decide _anything_, prisoner! I only have not killed you because the doctor has use for you! And you're coming whether you like it or not. Neither Infinite nor I care if your beliefs allow your body to be modified or not. You will be roboticized to serve the doctor. You can try to resist the machine all you want, but your elemental powers will be used to conquer this world and help us get back to Mobius!" After he said all of this, he grabbed Aang's arm and began dragging the boy down the corridors, heading to the roboticization corridor.

Aang shook his head and struggled in the robot's grasp, not giving in easily to the demands of Sonic's robotic double. He shouted to the robot, "Let me go! If you change me around in that way, you'll probably incur the wrath of all the spirits, not to mention make all my friends want to kill you! Are you sure you want that on your head?"

Metal Sonic rolled his eyes, not threatened in the least by the thought of an angry mob, "Listen, there's no such thing as spirits, and humans don't frighten me. So your words fall on deaf ears, boy." Once they reached the chamber containing the roboticizer, Metal Sonic unlocked the machine and placed Aang inside the tube on the left, preparing the machine for use. He asked Aang, "Any last words before you're lost to time, boy?"

Aang told him, "Just a few more. You may have won this small battle, but Sonic and his friends will win the war, no matter what happens to me. You know that they already beat your creator once, so what's to stop them from doing it again?"

Metal Sonic chuckled and said, "That's exactly why we're roboticizing _you_, Aang. You're his friend. He won't want to fight against a good friend."

Aang sighed and shook his head, having guessed how Sonic was based on the time he had known him, "Listen, maybe we have…but he would know that I'm not myself if I were to attack him roboticized. So you're not doing yourself any favors by turning me against everyone."

Infinite explained, "Oh yes we are. We're buying him time to build all the robots he will need to crush your pathetic little world in a matter of days. Sorry boy, but we _will _win this one, no matter how long it takes."

Aang shrugged and then screamed in pain as he felt his legs beginning to turn into metal, the roboticization beginning to occur slowly. He asked, panting, "How long…is this process?"

Eggman, now entering the room, told the Avatar, "It's a very long process. A full roboticization using the old model takes around 2 and 3 hours. So you might as well get used to it."

Aang teared up, fearing that his ability to control the elements or talk to spirits would be compromised. However, he heard a small voice whisper in his ear, "Aang, we know this is not your fault, so don't worry. We won't lose contact. And as for your bending abilities…don't worry, we'll make sure those stay intact as well. Just promise you won't kill with them when you lose yourself. We shudder to think of the damage you could do to this beautiful world."

Aang gulped and told her, "I'll do my best."

The spirit responded, "That's all you can do, Avatar. All right, good luck!" It then vanished and Aang was soon completely roboticized.

During all of this, Sonic and friends had finally formulated a very strategic rescue plan and made the team that would carry out the rescue. The team would consist of Shadow, Sonic, Silver, Katara and Tails. Sonic and Katara would be there to help bring Aang back to his senses if Eggman had managed to pull off a roboticization, Silver would be there as kind of an enforcer, kind of like a defender of the team itself, Tails would be the brains of the operation and Shadow was there as another form of backup in case someone got injured. Sonic sighed and said, "I just hope we're not too late to save him. Also, once we're done with this, we need to look for the Chaos Emeralds…as embarrassing as this is to admit, I'm starting to get a little homesick."

Tails nodded in agreement, "Okay. Let's get moving then."

With that, the team left to go find Eggman's base. They asked around for a while in the Fire Nation, but no one in the Capital had seen anyone wearing a red lab coat for hours. They continued to search, even traveling as far as the former Air Nation home island to try and get some information on the whereabouts of Eggman's lab. They still didn't find anything. After searching for a few days, they came across Aang's glider, broken and a few drops of blood on it.

Worried that Aang could possibly hurt, Katara gasped and teared up, "Oh no…I hope he's not!"

Silver shook her head and told her, "Katara…don't think anything of it, okay? Besides, the blood on that is old now. However he was injured, he's probably healed up by this point."

Sonic folded his arms and looked at Silver, "Stop giving her false hope, Silver. Yeah, he's probably been healed by now, but it doesn't mean he's okay. For all we know, Eggman's torturing him as we speak!"

Silver sighed, "Sonic, you need to relax, all right? I know you care about Aang but taking out your concerns on me won't do much for the search. I'm sure we'll find something else soon." He used his telekinesis and floated himself in front of the group, not wanting to be the brunt of anyone else's frustrations. A few hours later, Sonic heard a noise that sounded like Aang screaming and his eyes went wide, "Guys! I think…I think we found him! Let's hurry!"

The Blue Blur took off at top speed on Ember Island, not caring now about the security concerns. He charged full tilt into Eggman's lab. Once there, he saw Aang curled up inside a tube, almost completely roboticized, "No! Aang, hang on, I'll bust you out!"

Before he could move another step, however, Infinite darted up behind Sonic and stabbed him through the back, the dagger coming out the front, right side of the hedgehog's chest. He screamed in pain and fell, breathing hard and clutching the injury site. Tails and the others did their best to quickly join Sonic, as hearing him in that much pain was never a good sign. When the young fox cub arrived, he saw Sonic kneeling and holding a deep cut on his chest. He yelled and shoved Infinite away, asking his friend, "Sonic, are you okay?"

Sonic responded, giving a thumbs up, "I've had a lot worse than this, but never mind. We've gotta stop the roboticization on Aang!"

Eggman cackled and said, "I do believe Metal Sonic gave me all the delay I needed. You're too late, Sonic!"

Sonic shook his head, refusing to believe he hadn't been of any help, "No…NO! He can't…"

Aang, who was indeed fully roboticized, wheeled on Sonic and Tails, grabbing the young fox by his arm very roughly and told him coldly, his voice slightly mechanical sounding because of what happened, "The doctor's right. I serve him now. What should I do with them, my lord?"

Katara teared up and shook her head, "No…NO! How could you DO THIS, Eggman?!"

Eggman told her, "I'm sorry little water princess, but he is no longer your friend. He's _my _buddy now." He then looked at Aang and commanded him, "KILL SONIC!"

Aang smirked, his eyes a cold black, "Gladly, master." Because of his bending abilities, he quickly and completely removed the air from Sonic's lungs, causing the blue hedgehog to faint and start gasping for breath while unconscious.

Seeing Sonic's dire predicament, Katara called out, hoping to reach some part of Aang's humanity, "Aang…do you REALLY think the spirits would want you to kill?"

Infinite told her, "Don't waste your breath, girl. Your pleas are falling on deaf ears."

Somehow, Katara's words broke through and Aang returned the air to Sonic's lungs. Her small attempt had briefly worked, but only for a fraction of a second. The Avatar then turned to Eggman and asked, "What do you want from me now?"

Eggman told him, "Go and remove the air from everyone that is native to this world. That way there is no one here to stop me from taking over this world."

Aang nodded, "Very good, master. I will oblige." He then used his Air Scooter and began to ride to the closest town.

Sonic, now essentially recovered from what Aang had pulled, growled at Eggman and backed him into a corner, "Are you _stupid_? How will you being in control of Aang help us get home?"

Eggman cackled, "It won't help _you _get back, but it will certainly help me. He can control all the elements you know. An ability like that is exactly the kind of firepower we'll need to go home, hedgehog."

Silver explained, "Yes, but why did you have to make him _evil_? He could've still made it even if he stayed good. Plus, he's only a little kid! How do you justify turning a _small child_ into a robot that has no autonomy?"

Eggman responded, "I justify it by telling myself they have no purpose, so I am giving them one."

Sonic growled, his eyes now full of angry tears, "He had _plenty _of purpose already, Eggman. He was the spiritual medium for his people and was my friend! How could you do something so cold and cruel to such a good-hearted person?!" He then darted over to Eggman and _decked _him in the face, HARD.

Katara nodded in agreement and added, "Aang would never hurt a fly! I think I know why you did it too."

Shadow simply explained, "He did it because of he's jealous of the one thing that Sonic and Aang have in common that he doesn't have, and that's innocence. Now, doctor, are you going to come with us to undo this? Or am I going to have to shoot holes I n that perfect mustache?"

Tails told Shadow, "There's no need for him to, Shadow. I know how to undo the roboticization. You guys know this. But first, we need to track down Aang and get him back here. Silver, Shadow…I'll leave that to you two. Bring him back and try to make it fast, okay?"

Silver and Shadow both nodded, glanced at each other, then headed out to go retrieve Aang before he did any serious damage to the town. They spotted him near a small girl, his hand on her chest as he prepared to end her life by removing the air from her lungs. However, Silver grabbed onto him with this telekinesis and threw him to the side, telling the girl to run away, that Aang was not himself. Scared, the little girl nodded her head and teared up, telling the hedgehogs, "Please, don't kill him. I could tell that he was trying to fight whatever's happening inside. His eyes…they had this weird little twinkle in them."

Silver smiled a bit, relieved to hear that something human remained inside of the Avatar. He said, "Shadow…I just got an idea based on what she said. What if we try bringing out the good in Aang again before turning him back? That would put a damper on Eggman's plans and free him to help us stop them too. If we turn Aang back, he could also help us track down the Chaos Emeralds, since they're not native to this world and probably emit a different kind of energy than he is used to. Should we try?"

Shadow nodded, "It won't be easy to bring Aang back to his senses, but if you think it's worth a shot, then let's go for it. Just make sure you keep a firm hold on him with your psychokinesis, okay?"

Silver responded, "Of course. Now, let's do this!"

The two hedgehogs faced the boy. Shadow distracted Aang while Silver snuck up behind him and kicked him in the back of the head, knocking him out for the time being and forcing him out of the Avatar state. His eyes were still a hazy gray, as he was roboticized still, but he lost consciousness soon after that. Silver encapsulated the boy in his aura and went back to Katara, Sonic and Eggman with Shadow following him. He told the group, "All right. I've got a firm grip on Aang right now, Sonic, Katara. It'll be up to you two to awaken his heart again. It's risky but we really need to free him if we are to get back home. He might be our only hope."

Sonic sighed and nodded, "You're probably right."

Katara asked, "Will anything bad happen to him while he's trapped like that?"

Silver shook his head, "No…but if he lashes out at me in anyway, I might be forced to kill him. Are you ready for that possibility, Katara?"

Katara looked at Aang with pity, but sighed and nodded, her eyes full of tears, "…Yes, I guess. But I really hope it's a last resort."

Sonic assured her, "Don't worry, it is. We know how much you two mean to each other. Now…let's start bringing Aang back to his senses, okay?" He then jumped up and started talking to Aang, "Aang…I know it's hard to fight it. My uncle and Dad both went through this too…please, don't let Egghead ruin your life like he has mine. Don't let him take you away from those who mean the most to you." He glanced back at Katara and nodded, then jumped down from the cliff ledge Silver had all but chained him to.

Katara nodded and used a bit of her water bending to bring herself up to Aang's eye level, telling him, "Aang…I love you. I know you're in there. You're nobody's killing machine. You're a good guy with a heart of gold. Please…wake up and hear my voice." She leaned over a bit and kissed his mouth.

The kiss was all Aang needed because his Airbending symbols glowed and all the metal on his body disappeared in a flash, and he turned to Sonic, telling him, "Thank you."

Sonic nodded, "If we had the Chaos Emeralds, I'd help you, but…I think you deserve the honor of throwing him in jail this time since he attacked you so personally."  
Aang smiled and chuckled, "All right. I got this then. Did you guys get my glider?"

Zuko tossed it to him from the distance, having followed the group just in case, "That and Appa followed us. He seemed to know you were in trouble. Show that cueball whose boss."

Katara nodded in agreement, "He's all yours, Aang."

Eggman pleaded, "A…Aang? I…look, I'm sorry, I didn't-AAH!"

Before he had barely got a word out, Aang had punched him in the stomach. He told the scientist, "I gave you a chance before to back out of roboticizing me. You didn't take it…now you face the consequences. Zuko, will you arrest him? After all, you are the Firelord now."

Zuko nodded and responded, "I'll make sure he never sees the light of day again, Aang. Are you feeling all right?"

Aang nodded, "I'm fine. But we need to help Sonic and his friends do something to pay them back for helping me get out of that craziness."

Sonic responded, "Well…it would help us a lot if you'd help us find the Chaos Emeralds."

Katara asked, "What do those look like?"

Sonic and company explained to Katara Aang and Zuko what the Chaos Emeralds looked like and the group reluctantly agreed to help, even though it would mean Sonic and his pals would be going back after everything. Later that night, Sonic sat awake in bed and looked out at the night sky, observing just how different the stars here were from the ones he was used to at home. He eventually dozed off, dreaming of chili dogs.

Meanwhile, at Ember Island, Eggman and Infinite were arguing back and forth about who had done things right. Infinite said, "I did! At least I was direct in trying to stop them rather than trying to subvert!"

Eggman told him, "Maybe, but with these kinds of things, you HAVE to be!"

Infinite shook his head, "Not really. That's just your perception. You know what? I'm DONE with you Eggman. You say you have standards and yet you try to control beings beyond your ken to get what you want. I'm sorry, but that just speaks weakness to me. I'm through and you're not stopping me. Goodbye." He left the lab and began to wander around Ember Island. He eventually built himself a raft and left the Island, going to help in the search for the Chaos Emeralds, but in his own way.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Well, moving right along! Yeah, this chapter and next chapter is the Gaang helping Sonic and co find the Chaos Emeralds and the final one, Chapter 9, is going to be Aang, Sonic, Silver, Toph, Zuko and Katara teaming up to make sure they get back to Mobius, using the power of the Chaos Emeralds as well as the Super forms, Aang's Airbending, Toph's Earthbending and Katara's Waterbending to do this. It's been a long time coming, but this story is finally wrapping up! Poor Sokka doesn't really get to do much except watch, but he will get to say goodbye to everyone. 😊 Without further ado, let's get on with it.

Chaotic Bending

Chapter 7: Search for the Chaos Emeralds, Part 1: Yellow, Red, Blue, and Gray

The following day, Sonic woke up in the campsite that he, Sokka, Knuckles, Tails and Shadow had built just outside the walls of Ba Sing Se. They had stayed close to the great city for protection during the night, but if they were to find any of the Chaos Emeralds, they would need to start the search as soon as possible. He yawned and then said aloud, hoping that someone would wake up, "Well, I guess we should get started. I wonder what happened to Eggman and Infinite though?"

Not quite used to how loud Sonic could be, Katara groaned and then woke up, telling the blue hedgehog, "I don't really care what happened to them, to be honest with you. Yes, they are villains and we should worry, but if we let them occupy our thoughts too much, then we won't be able to focus on finding you guys a way back home. Am I right about that, Aang?"

Also awakened by Sonic's volume, the young Avatar told Sonic, "Yeah, Katara's right, Sonic. As much as I want to get back at Eggman for what he made me do to you, I know that's not right. The sooner we can get everything back to the way it is supposed to be, the better. Zuko's already taken his role as firelord, and…quite frankly, I'd like to do my part as the Avatar and help restore some more of the world's balance if possible." He smiled lovingly at Katara, his feelings for her having begun to blossom some more now that Ozai was defeated and there was not much left for him to do other than perhaps help his friend Zuko get some answers about his mother and make sure that he appointed a fair and just council for the world government that had been discussed only in the smallest circles.

Tails yawned, having been awoken by Katara and Aang, "Maybe he is right, but we can't rush these things. Though…thinking more about it, it wouldn't be hard for you to find those as the Avatar. Am I right, Aang? I mean…you are the closest thing to Super Sonic in this world and SHOULD be able to detect any foreign energy signatures when you're in the Avatar state. Or am I reading into this wrong?"

Aang sighed and said, "Yes, I should be able to, but…I can't go into that form too much, or it will shorten my life a great deal. Maybe Sonic is powered up by his alternate form, but mine drains some of my life essence each time I use it. Not a LARGE quantity of it by any means, but…the time I spent in the iceberg keeping me and Appa alive has taken its toll on me. At least, that's what the spirits have told me."

Sonic thought a moment, then added, "What if Shadow took off his rings and helped you find the emeralds using his energy as well? Would that help you?"

Sokka shrugged and said, "I guess it would be worth a shot. What do you think, Aang?"

Aang responded, "My only concern is that it would have some kind of negative effect on Shadow since he is not native to my world…but perhaps you or Silver could address it back on your world?"

Sonic nodded, "More than likely we could. If you left a negative imprint on him or shortened his life, we might have something on Mobius that could heal him. So just do what you need to do, Aang."

Aang sighed and told Sonic, "All right, we'll give it a shot, but if I notice Shadow getting ill, I will disable the connection between us. Is that all right?"

Shadow nodded, "If you feel you need to end it, absolutely. Just don't underestimate me, kid. I'm a lot more capable than you give me credit for." He took off his power rings and shut his eyes, telling Aang softly, "Roll up your sleeves. It will be easier for me to transfer the energy to you if I use the symbols you do when you are in that state."

Aang nodded and sat down, encasing Shadow and he in green crystal like he had done alone so many times before when going into the Avatar state. He rolled his sleeves up and Shadow began the energy transfer to help power him up. Not long after that, the boy trembled and shouted out, "There are four located on the Fire nation continent! The blue and gray ones are both in Omashu, and the yellow and red ones are both…" He frowned and sighed, then opened his eyes again, "both in the Great Library. I don't know if we should go there to look for them though. There's a lot of…speculation and legend surrounding the library that scares me."

Sonic responded, smirking, "Aang, don't be scared. We can all protect each other. But, if it'll make you feel better we can go after the blue and gray ones first." He patted Aang's back in an effort to reassure the frightened teen.

Aang chuckled, "Good point, Sonic. Still, what if there's something in there that can overpower even you and I in our altered states?"

Shadow then added, "If there's something there that can overpower Aang and I in our strongest states, then there's a problem. But I think we'll do fine as is. Let's head out."

Without another word, the group broke camp and began to head towards Omashu to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds that Aang had sensed there in the brief time that he had been connected to Shadow. He asked the ebony hedgehog, "Are you feeling all right, Shadow?"

Shadow sighed and looked to the boy, "I've told you since we broke camp, I'm fine. Stop asking me every five minutes. If I start to feel ill, you will be the first to know. Relax." He waited a bit to let the boy pass him and then followed the group, getting annoyed by Aang.

Katara sighed and shook her head, telling the group, "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." She walked over to Aang and whispered in his ear, "I think Shadow took your concern the wrong way, Aang."

Sokka folded his arms and frowned, "He shouldn't have. Aang was only asking because of how far apart our worlds are. What's so weird about that?"

Katara shrugged, "I don't know, but I don't want anyone to harbor bad feelings towards each other, Sokka. You know this about me by now."

Sokka sighed, but nodded, knowing his little sister all too well, "Yeah, as much as it annoys me, I know you and Aang love to be peacemaker. Just do me a favor and stay on his good side, okay?"

Katara giggled and nodded, "I will do my best, Sokka." She walked over to the black-and-red hedgehog and quietly asked him, out of his sensitivity to noise, "Shadow, I am sorry if Aang made you uncomfortable in any way, but you cannot blame him for having a heart of gold and being concerned for others. It is just in his nature, and in mine. Are you homesick? You do not need to lie to me or try to conceal the truth." She then smirked and bended a small bit of her water to come out and rest near her fingertips, "Because one way or another…I will find out."

Shadow, a bit intimidated because of her abilities and knowing that she could drown him if she so desired, told the girl, "I am slightly…but I mostly miss racing with Sonic."

Sonic, overhearing just a bit because of his keen senses, told Shadow, smirking, "You know…if you wanted to, Shadow…you and I could make a race out of finding the Emeralds if you're that bored. I'm just saying…"

Shadow smirked and nodded, "I welcome the challenge, Sonic. Good luck to you!" Not waiting for any sort of signal, the edgy hedgie (because the terminology is just adorable) began skating towards Omashu at top speed. Sonic nodded to Aang and the others and told them, "We'll see you there!" He took off after Shadow, managing to pass him not long after that. About 30 to 45 minutes within leaving the largest city in the Earth Kingdom, Aang, Katara, Tails and the others caught up to the two hedgehogs, finding them standing in front of a deep gorge with a narrow bridge leading across it and into what looked like another bustling metropolis.

Knuckles stated and then questioned, "This is pretty impressive architecture, but…where are we?"

Aang gasped and smiled, then responded, "Oh, Knuckles, you're about to see one of the great wonders of our world! This is the great Earth city of Omashu! I always had to come here to visit my friend, Bumi!" He tensed up and groaned, rubbing his forehead, now a bit sensitive to the energy of the Chaos Emeralds.

Noticing his subtle discomfort, Katara walked over and asked, "Aang? Are you okay?"

Shadow mentioned, "He did say the Emeralds are here, and Tails did say that as the Avatar, he would sense them. Perhaps he's having an unfortunate side effect to their energy emissions, given that he can bend the four elements that make up your world."

Sokka and Sonic shared a confused look, then Tails tried to explain, "So in other words…some sort of energy poisoning. I think that's what he's trying to get at, Katara. If that's the case, maybe those of you that have bending abilities should stay behind and let Sokka be the one to help us locate the emeralds."

Aang stubbornly shook his head and told Tails, "I promised Sonic that I would help you guys find them! It's…it's the least I can do after he helped me break out of the roboticization! I owe him…"

Sonic shook his head as he walked over to Aang and placed a hand on his arm, "You don't owe me anything, Aang. I would've brought you out of it even without the prompting of your friends, because that's just how I roll. I never let anything that Eggman does to others be a lasting thing. Never have, and never will. Just ask Tails." He walked over and patted his best friend on the shoulder.

Tails smiled and nodded in agreement, then added, "Yeah, don't let Eggman bring you down, dude. Speaking of which…where is he? I'd like to get my hands on him for what he tried to make you do, Aang."

Shadow spoke up and said, "Knowing the Doctor as I do…he's probably off licking his wounds from the last time we fought. We'll see him at least once more before we leave this world."

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, we can pretty much count on that. Anyway….what's so special about Omashu, other than that you have a friend who lives here, Aang? Your face lit up."

Aang explained to him, "The people of Omashu are even more friendly than the people of Ba Sing Se."

Silver nodded and then responded, "Well, that should be interesting then. Let's just hope there isn't anyone like that Long Feng fellow."

Katara frowned and then told him, "More than likely not. I don't know what was going on with him, but most of the ones of our world who had middle- or working-class upbringings do not behave like that. I think that Long Feng just got a little power hungry once he was granted a little bit of influence. Anyway, let's get some rest. Aang's not looking so great. Sokka, you and the others can gather the Emeralds and then move on to the yellow and red Emeralds. Just try to be a good host, okay?"

Sokka smiled and nodded, "Of course, Katara. You'd be surprised about how much I've learned just watching you."

Katara rolled her eyes, unimpressed with her brother, then told him, "Yeah, we'll see how much of that actually stuck with you. See you later, okay?"

Sokka nodded, "Later, sis." He left with Sonic, Silver, Knuckles and Shadow. The benders in the group, i.e., Toph, Zuko, Katara, and Aang, all went back to Ba Sing Se to prevent the possible energy poisoning that Tails had mentioned. After what seemed like hours, Sonic closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling an all too familiar surge of energy, but wanting to verify for himself that it was indeed the blue and gray Chaos Emeralds that Aang had detected once they had gotten within 50 feet of the city.

Shadow, doing pretty much the same thing as Sonic was, except a little faster because of his experience with the Emeralds, told the blue hedgehog, "Sonic, it is the blue and gray Chaos Emeralds. They're on that stand over there and it seems like somebody wants to make profit off of them. Unfortunately, I do not have any of the local currency on me."

Sokka spoke up and told them, "Don't worry, I got this. Katara had those of us native to this world exchange some of our own currencies just in case something like this happened." He walked up to the vendor and said, "Excuse me…how much do you want for those shiny rocks?"

The man selling the Chaos Emeralds responded, "Oh…umm, they're pretty expensive. Are you sure you want them, my boy?"

Sokka nodded, "Absolutely! They're a gift for a friend."

The man got a smart look on his face and then asked him, "This friend wouldn't happen to be a _girl_friend, would it?"

Sokka rolled his eyes and shook his head, telling the man, "No, it's for my sister. She'll be marrying the Avatar in a few months and I wanted to give her an early anniversary present. Now, are you gonna sell those to me or not?"

The man chuckled and nodded, "I see…so you are the brother of that waterbender everyone is talking about, Katara. Well, I hope that you have a good life. It probably won't be easy being the brother-in-law to the Avatar."

Sokka groaned and shook his head, "Don't remind me. Anyway…thank you!" He paid the man and then picked up the blue and gray Chaos Emeralds, shooting Sonic a sly smile, then a nod and thumbs up, as he had seen the blue hedgehog do once or twice when they had been in the midst of a fight. Granted, they had not fought together _a lot_ yet, but it probably would not be too long until both boys got to see the full extent of the other's abilities. He told Shadow, Sonic and Silver, "We should get going like Katara suggested. Although…maybe we should consider bringing Aang with us anyway….as much of a danger as the yellow and red Chaos Emeralds might be to him as a bender…he's the Avatar and his sensitivity to the Emeralds would be a huge help. Not that you guys did a bad job at that…it just wouldn't hurt to have someone else along. Do you know what I'm saying?"

Sonic nodded and then responded, "I know what you're saying, Sokka, but if we bring Aang along, we should probably bring Katara as well because of her healing abilities. We don't know what we'll encounter in the library."

Sokka folded his arms, "So you're saying my sister should endanger her life to help you guys?"

Shadow explained, "It wouldn't be only us necessarily that could get hurt in there. You could as well…or are you saying you want us to drag you to her if you get hurt in there?"

Sokka opened his mouth to object, but then closed it and nodded, "All right, point taken. Just, be careful, all right? There's a lot of bad rumors about that Library."

Sonic asked, "Yeah, but do you believe every bit of gossip that you hear, Sokka?"

Sokka shook his head, "No, but it's not only people that like to cause drama that are saying it. That's why I'm nervous. I just don't want Aang and Katara hurt."

Sonic sighed and responded, placing a hand on Sokka's forearm to reassure him, "If either of them get hurt, I'll do what I can to help them, okay?" He then looked to Knuckles and asked, "Do you still have the Master Emerald with you?"

Knuckles nodded, "Yeah…but I don't know if it will heal them, given that they're not native to Mobius."

Sonic shrugged and told him, "We should at least try. If either Aang or Katara get hurt in the search for the Emeralds, well…I'll feel personally responsible. You know this about me, Knuckles."

Knuckles told him, "Yeah, you like to help everyone. Anyways, let's rest here in Omashu, send a message to Ba Sing Se for Katara and Aang to join us back here, and then leave in the morning to head to the Library for the next two Emeralds. Does that sound like a plan to everyone?"

Sonic, Shadow, Silver and Sokka nodded their heads, all too ready to proceed with the quest of finding all the Emeralds. They separated into two groups to board at the inn for the night. Sonic and Sokka were in one room and Shadow and Silver were in the other one. After some brief conversation amidst the two groups, they all fell asleep.

The next day, Sonic and Shadow were the first ones awake and went into the common area of the inn for breakfast with the other townsfolk. They waited briefly for Sokka and Silver to wake up. Sonic asked Shadow, "What do you think of Sokka?"

Shadow shrugged and responded, "He's a bit naïve, but I think that's to be expected of a child his age. He will grow out of it as he gets older and experiences more things in his life. I just hope there is more positive than negative. I don't want him turning out like me."

Sonic rolled his eyes and told him, "Say what you want, but I think he'll turn out more like me. He's had Katara to influence him and she's been pretty upbeat most of the time. Granted, they've had their negative experiences, but who doesn't have those kinds of things in their lives? Anyway, I think he's pretty cool. He's been fun to get to know. It'll be a shame to leave them."

Shadow shrugged and responded, "Perhaps so, but we can't stay here. You know that."

Sonic sighed, "Yeah yeah, it'll disrupt the cosmic balance and all that. I know. I'm not saying we're staying, I'm just saying it's too bad."

Shadow replied, "All right." Not too long after they finished their brief conversation, Silver and Sokka joined them in the common area and the group conversed, making their plans for the library and Katara and Aang arriving in the midst of this meeting.

Aang said, "Okay, guys, so do we have a game plan?"

Silver told him, "Sort of? Let me make sure I understood you correctly. You say we'll enter it from different sides?"

Aang nodded, "Right. If we enter from more than one side, the librarians and staff won't know what to expect and we'll be able to more easily find the Emeralds without being stonewalled. Does that make sense?"

Sonic responded, "It does, but I kinda feel sorry for them. All they're trying to do is protect some information. I don't see what's wrong with that."

Katara explained, "We're not saying anything is, Sonic. We're just saying we'll be in and out with the Emeralds faster if we don't have to waste time running around the whole library. Okay?"

Shadow told her, "Not only does it save time, but it will also keep them from getting in our way of searching. I've seen librarians and those kinds of people before. They are peculiar, to say the least."

Silver nodded, "Peculiar is…putting it mildly. But yes, they are interesting people." Without another word, he and the others left Omashu and headed for the Great Library of their world, wanting to find the other two Emeralds that Aang had sensed.

As suggested by Aang earlier, the group entered from all the different openings, hoping to catch the librarians and other staff off-guard so that they could search without any holds barred. They searched the library top to bottom and eventually came across the yellow and red Emeralds, on a high shelf. Sonic told Aang, who had tried to use his airbending to bend the air around the yellow Emerald and force it to fall, "Aang, I wouldn't. I know it's easier to use your bending, but you risk energy poisoning even more that way. I've got this." He ran up the front of the shelf, grabbed the Emerald and jumped back down with a nod, "All right, that's one." He looked over on the opposite side of the library and saw Shadow and Katara. Shadow had the red Emerald in his hand and gave a nod to him and Aang.

He nodded and added, "Looks like we've got what we came for. We should go."

Aang nodded and the group left without cleaning up, and the staff cleaned up all the books that had been thrown in the floor in their hasty search for the two Emeralds.

Now that four of the seven Chaos Emeralds had been found, there were only three left to find before it would be time for Sonic, Aang and company to team up to send Sonic and his Mobian friends back to their native world. While the time was drawing nearer, it made Aang and company a little sad, as they had started to like Sonic and his close pals. Though, if they were asked, they wouldn't readily admit to it, Zuko especially. There were three Emeralds left to find: the green, the light blue and the purple ones. These would not take long to find, and Aang and Shadow still had to find them using their enhanced searching.

As Aang and Shadow once again joined their energies, Aang let out a yelp and then said, "…Well, it seems like the last three are scattered as well. The green one is in the Fire nation's capital, the light blue one is in the Western Air Temple and the purple one is…." He frowned and tensed up against the wave of emotion building up in him, "the purple one is where the Southern Air Temple used to be."

Knowing of Aang's unique backstory, and the fact that he was the last of the Airbenders, Katara walked over and gave him a hug, reassuring him, "Aang, no matter what happens, we're all here for you. All right?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, it was explained to us that you're the last of your kind. My friend Knuckles knows that pain all too well."

Aang blinked, "Really?"

Knuckles nodded, "Yes. I'm the last of the echidnas on my world, so I can pretty well imagine what's going through your head right now, Aang. It's a lot of pressure. Just try to be yourself and try not to be too frivolous. But also don't be afraid to try new things. Those new things could help you shape the new airbender culture, much in the same way that anything I do now, could shape the new echidna culture…whenever and _if _I can ever start it up again. Okay?"

Aang smiled and nodded, darting over to Knuckles, hugging him and crying, feeling an immense sense of relief that he wasn't alone in being the last of his kind. Though…now, it made him want to spend more time with the red echidna now, exchanging ideas of how cultures should be run and all that. He asked the echidna, "How do you deal with it so well?"

Knuckles told him, "The first thing to do is to try and not the pressure swallow you whole. I think that's the problem you're having, Aang. You already have so much responsibility as the Avatar…and being the last of your kind on top of that is maybe proving to be a bit too much for you. Relax, all right? I know life isn't easy…but if you let every little thing that happens to you get to you, you'll never get anywhere with re-establishing your people's way of life. The next thing you wanna do is to try and incorporate a few ideas from other cultures. Not _all _of them, but enough that it will make things unique for you and your progeny. Lastly, you want to establish a fair government and justice system once you get enough people interested in restarting your culture. Any questions?"

Aang shook his head and responded, "No, you've pretty much covered everything. Thank you for the advice, Knuckles."

Sonic patted Knuckles on the back and said, "He's capable of giving good advice _sometimes._ Anyway, we should head back to Ba Sing Se now that we have four of the seven Emeralds. We'll collect the last two a little later."

With that, the group left the plains surrounding the Library and went back to Ba Sing Se for some much needed rest after that bit of excitement. They would collect the remaining three Emeralds in a few days.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: SO CLOSE to the end I can practically taste it and picture it in my mind. I had A TON of fun writing this, and I hope you guys have as much fun reading (and possibly watching if it all works out), this series! I have considered a possible follow up, but I don't know for sure that I will do it without some outside help. It's been a long time since I've watched Legend of Korra, so as I did for Avatar, I will be needing to go back and rewatch it as well. This will conclude the Search for the Emeralds saga, and there will be an Eggman and Infinite fight in here, where Aang and Sonic will team up. I had considered having Eggman roboticize the Freedom Fighters (Jett's group), but I wasn't sure what the point would be of it since Sonic and friends are going back. Plus, it would be rough on the Gaang, after they almost lost Aang to Eggman already. And with Jett having recently died (yes, it happens in here too, just not on screen), I didn't really want to put them through the roboticization process so soon after it. Yes, they'd feel broken a bit because Jett was gone, but I think that his closest friend in the Freedom Fighters (a girl who is in "The Promise" comic and is also in Book 3(?), and WATCHED JETT DIE, would know that he wouldn't want them to just give up and let themselves be changed. He would want them to fight to the death to stay themselves. So they will stay on the side of good. Though they may help Aang some, as his constant exposure to the Chaos Emeralds and Shadow's foreign life essence will start to take a small toll. Not as hefty a toll as the iceberg or taking away Ozai's bending…but it will certainly leave its mark, literally. (Yeah, pretty much just gonna have Shadow's icon imprinted in the middle of his back. Essentially in the same spot that he would've had the mark left by Azula if Tails hadn't protected him) Anyways, I think I've pretty much expressed how excited I am about releasing this series in the fall! Have fun reading!

Chaotic Bending

Chapter 8: Search for the Chaos Emeralds, Part 2: Green, Light Blue and Purple; Imprisonment

A few days later_, Sonic and his friends awakened in Ba Sing Se. It seemed like time was passing too quickly. They had found a little more than half of the chaos emeralds and they had only arrived few months ago. while Sonic himself was saddened by this, it seemed like nobody else was. Noticing his friends sad look, tails told Sonic, "it will be a bummer to leave, but we know Aang and his friends can take care of themselves. Plus, we are kind of in their way here; are we not, Sonic?"_

_ The blue hedgehog responded to this friend, "yes, I guess we are. I am just kind of uneasy about leaving things the way they are. I don't know if you have notice, but something is up with our friend, Firelord Zuko."_

_ Tails responded, " I noticed it, but I was hoping it was just the pressures of ruling. I don't think he and Aang are becoming enemies. I think he is just unsure of how to rule everything. He has never been in a position of power after all."_

_Sonic told him, "let's hope that all it is. I do not want to have to come back and kill him. I know it would hurt Aang because they are close friends. But Aang also told me of the promise that he made to Zuko. That he would kill him if he ever started to lose sight of everything that they fought for, which was love peace and Harmony between the nations. It's a good dream but not easily accomplished. I know that from all the time that I have spent fighting Eggman to keep the balance between nature and machines. Anyway, should not we go wake up the others? We should leave together to get the chaos emeralds."_

_ Tails replied, "yes, we should. We should give Aang a few more minutes though. As the avatar, he is probably experiencing the energy poisoning from the chaos emeralds stronger than anyone. I am surprised he agreed to help us find them."_

_ Sonic smirked and informed tails," he is a bit stubborn like me. Maybe it's because he's an air nomad? Either way i really like the kid. Though, I guess we can't really call him a kid anymore, can we? He is growing up and I don't know if you have noticed, but he and Katara are becoming more than friends."_

_ Tails laughed and told Sonic,"I have notice. But does that really matter? As long as he doesn't stay the same, and continues to grow, he will only get better from here. His power is growing as well. That might have to do with his emotions and his strong feelings towards Katara, but there is no way to prove it. I will go wake everyone up. Would you mind going to the common area and setting everything up for breakfast for the group? " _

_Sonic told his friend," I don't mind at all. Try to hurry it up though. you know how fast I am at everything." _

_Tails chuckled and said,"Oh yes, I know all too well. I will do my best. I can't promise anything about Sokka though" _

Sonic shrugged and responded, "If he snoozes, he loses. That'll be his fault and not yours. See you in a couple of minutes?"

Tails smiled and nodded, giving the Blue Blur a thumbs up as he went to the other rooms of the inn they had reserved, to check on all their friends. He got to the girls' room, which consisted of Toph, Katara and Blaze, and was surprised to hear animated chatting already. He knocked on the door and asked, "Everyone up?"

Katara responded from within, "Oh, good morning, Tails. Yeah, we've been up for a while. We were just talking about you guys and…how rough all of this has been on Aang."

Tails' face fell slightly as he asked, "Can I come in?"

Katara replied gently, "Sure, Tails."

Tails walked in and asked, "What do you mean by 'it's been rough' on Aang? Is he having more than just some physical discomfort from being constantly in contact with Shadow's life force and the Chaos Emeralds? Is that what you're telling me?"

Katara nodded, "Yes, unfortunately. He's having night terrors every couple of nights or so. But…he's trying to keep it a secret from you guys so you don't worry about it. Besides, we've almost found all of them, and once we do, you guys will be out of here _along with _them, right?"

Tails sighed and responded, "Yeah, but Katara….why didn't you mention any of this to Sonic? I'm sure he would've pushed to find them and get back faster if he had known."

Toph shoved Tails roughly against the wall and told the young fox, "She didn't mention it because Aang _asked _her not to, and they _love _each other. Okay?" 

Tails sighed and responded calmly, despite the irritation building inside him at Toph's sudden violence, "I get that, but we can't keep secrets from each other, Toph. It'll break apart and shatter the friendships we've built with each other. And I don't want that to happen. You guys are awesome."

Moved by Tails' gentle words, Katara sighed and placed a hand on Toph's shoulder, telling the Earthbender, "Toph, let him down. You know he's right. But Tails, could you do me a small favor and not mention any of what you heard to Sonic? Like Aang already said to me earlier, I don't want him to worry. He's bound and determined to help you guys get home, basically feels like it's his duty as the Avatar, and if Sonic found out, you know he'd try to get Aang to stay out of it."

Tails sighed and nodded his head, "Okay. Anyway, do you girls wanna come down for breakfast? Sonic's probably got it ready by now. He does _everything _fast."

Toph responded, "As long as he made more than chili dogs. And forgive me if this embarrasses you or Sonic in any way, but shouldn't you guys eat more than just those? I've noticed that it can sometimes upset Sonic's stomach." (A/N: As an Earthbender, and being blind, she can notice things about other people's bodies that they themselves may not pay much attention to anymore. Including Sonic's IBS due to continued consumption of chili dogs. XD))

Tails chuckled and responded to Toph, "He probably only made enough chili dogs for him and me, but I've seen him make other things too. And it's okay, we're not embarrassed by that anymore. He knows he has that, but there's not much he can do about it except change what he's eating and I don't think he's planning to do that anytime soon. I've tried a time or two to get him to eat other things, but he just won't. So, I've given up."

Katara nodded, "Well, at least you tried. I don't guess anyone else could convince him to either?"

Walking up behind Tails, Shadow told her, "Probably not. Good morning, girls."

Toph responded, "Good morning, Shadow. You sleep okay?"

Shadow nodded, "I slept fine, Toph. I'll see you downstairs."

After a short conversation with Tails, the girls went downstairs for breakfast, joined shortly thereafter by Zuko, Silver, and Sokka.

The group ate a hearty breakfast and then Aang nodded and turned to Shadow, asking him, "Should we scan one more time for the last three or do you still remember where they were? Sonic told me that you sometimes have memory problems."

Shadow shook his head, "I haven't forgotten that. Your emotional response to finding out where they were helped me remember. Just…do me a favor and keep control of yourself while we search the Southern Air Temple, okay? Is that where you were born and raised?"

Katara looked confused and asked, "How did you know that, Shadow?"

Shadow explained, "I guessed it based on his level of emotion. People only get that worked up over somewhere they have lived or a place that holds special memories in their heart. And given that his emotions were so heightened, he must have lived there an exceedingly long time."  
Aang nodded, "Most of my life, up until the iceberg. Monk Gyatso was like a father to me."

Katara walked up behind her seated fiancé and wrapped her arms around him, helping him stay calm and focused, knowing that the topic of the air nomads tended to send him into a broiling rage.

Sonic told him, "I see. Well, as much as I hate to brush off anyone's feelings, Aang…we need to go there and get those. Do you have any idea where they might have landed?"

Aang responded, "I have an idea of where the one that's in the Western Air Temple might be, and the Southern Air temple as well…but, well, the Firenation capital…I really have no idea. We could look around at the street vendors and see if what happened in Ba Sing Se happened there as well? Maybe one of them found the green one and is trying to sell it for profit?"

Sokka nodded, "It's worth trying. But Aang, if you start to not feel good from being around the Emeralds, tell us, okay? We'll bring you back here and let you rest. The last thing we need is for the Avatar to die from energy poisoning."

Tails frowned, remembering what Katara had mentioned to him earlier about the mental impact on Aang, and told Sonic, "Hey, Sonic. I'm gonna go for a little walk. I'll be back."

Sonic, noticing the worried look on Tails' face, responded, "Sure, but what's got you so down?"

Tails shrugged, "Nothing really, just…sad about leaving here after we find them all, that's it."

Sonic sighed, not believing his friend, but also not wanting to press because he knew that if he did, Tails would feel hurt and it wouldn't end well. He then added, "Yeah, it will be a bummer, huh? They're pretty cool. Just know that I'm here if you need to talk about something, okay, buddy?"

Tails smiled and nodded, feeling a bit better already because of his friend's words. He then flew off. However, the young fox did not go very far until he ran into Infinite, who now had the Green Chaos Emerald in his possession. Gasping, the boy genius asked, "How…how did you get that?"

The jackal told him, "Simple. Eggman and I got ahold of some of the Firenation currency and bought it from one of the street vendors." He smirked and asked, "Shall we see how well it works in conjunction with the Phantom Ruby?"

Tails' eyes widened, "No, don't do that! You might rip Aang's world apart!"

Infinite shrugged and told him, "It's not our world, so I don't care." He then activated both Ruby and Chaos Emerald, which caused Aang, who was about 100 miles away, to yell in pain and shiver violently. Noticing this, Katara gasped and placed a hand on Aang's forehead, noticing that he was suddenly running a very high fever. She frowned and told Sokka, "Help me get him to a bed. I don't care what happens, he's not helping them find that last Emerald. He could die."

Aang told her weakly, "But, Katara…"

Katara, helping him stay on his feet, responded, "Listen, sweetie…I love you, but I will not just stand idly by and see you slowly kill yourself by continuously exposing yourself to those things. IF you haven't noticed, I've kind of adapated to being around the Chaos Emeralds. Way better than you have. Whether it's related to our elements or not, I don't know…Toph is not as affected either. And maybe it's because you're the Avatar and control all four? I don't know…but either way, this is slowly killing you and I'm not going to let you die. If you insist on someone going to represent our interests, let Toph and Sokka go. Zuko can't go because he has responsibilities, and you _aren't _going. I care about you too much to watch you do this. Please?"

Aang sighed but nodded, "All right, sweetie. I'll drop out of the search if it's that important to you." He looked to Sonic and asked, "Are you okay with me sitting this one out since Shadow and I already found the last three?"

Sonic nodded, "If you need to, absolutely, Aang. Why didn't you tell me that the Emeralds were so hard on you though?"

Aang told him honestly, "I didn't want to be a burden to you and your friends. That's why Katara was always along. So she could help me mask the symptoms a little better. I'm sorry."

Tails told Aang, as he returned shaking from his encounter with Infinite, "Thank you for trying to spare our feelings, but…we care about you too, Aang. If you had told us from the start that the Emeralds would do that to you, we wouldn't have asked for your help."

Shadow explained, "He probably had no way of knowing they would do that to him until he encountered them, Tails. So, lay off."

Sokka spoke up and told the group, "As heartwarming as all of this chatter is, those of us who are actively going to be looking for the Emeralds should probably get started."

Tails, who was still a little shaky, raised his hand and said, "Hey, wait a minute! I…I know where one is. I just…ran into someone who had one."

Sonic's eyes went wide and he darted over to his friend, noticing how shaky he was on his feet, "That's great Tails, but…what happened?"

Tails explained, "Infinite has the green one. I don't know what he's planning, but he activated the tiny fragment of power that the Phantom Ruby still had and the Chaos Emerald at the same time! That's probably why Aang suddenly got so sick too. I'm sorry, Katara."

Katara shook her head, "It's not your fault, Tails. You have no control over what the villains do. I just hope we can get the other two Emeralds and get that one back without any problems."

Sonic smirked and said, "Oh, it won't be any problem, Katara. We may have to _fight_ to get the green one, but it'll be worth it to go back home. Am I right, guys?"

Knuckles nodded, "I'll be glad to be back at my Sanctuary again."

Tails nodded and told Sonic, "I'll be glad to be back at my workshop, making things like usual."

Shadow sighed and said, "And I'll be relieved to be back on Mobius."

With that, Sonic told Aang and Katara, "You two go back to Ba Sing Se. Sokka, Toph, you're with us to help us find the last two Emeralds. When that happens…as much as it pains me to ask this…Aang, would you help us get the green Chaos Emerald from Infinite and Eggman? I imagine that by now, he's taken it to him."

Aang nodded, "I can absolutely help you fight for your home. You helped me fight for mine, so it's about time I returned the favor."

Katara then added, "But once you've got all of them, Sonic…you have to let him take a break before you use him to help you get home. Is that okay?"

Sonic told her, "Well, of course. I would not dream of asking him to help me do that if he was not up to it. The last thing I wanna do is kill your world's protector."

Sokka smiled, "You're a lot nicer than you let on, Sonic."

Sonic shrugged, "I can be. Anyway, see you all later." With that, he left with Sokka, Toph, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow to go find the Purple and Light Blue Chaos Emeralds.

Several hours later, he returned with them and made sure to keep his distance from Ba Sing Se, now that he knew the physical and mental toll the gems could have on Aang. He told Shadow, "Will you go tell Katara we only need the Green Chaos Emerald now and will need Aang to help us get it back from Infinite and Eggman?"

Shadow nodded, "I hate telling bad news, but sure." He skated to the city and found Katara tending to Aang, keeping a cool cloth on his forehead and humming softly to the boy so he'd rest while his body recovered from the foreign energies. Sensing Shadow, the waterbender glared and spun around, punching Shadow in the face. He growled and said, "What the hell, bitch?!"

Katara explained, "You knew that Aang was having all this happening when you traveled with him and yet, you did NOTHING about it?! Why?"

Shadow sighed and told the enraged water bender, "I didn't do anything about it because Aang wasn't making a huge deal out of it, woman! Anyway, how is he?"

Aang, hearing Shadow's voice and having been woken up by Katara's outburst, sat up and told him, "I'm feeling a lot better now that I've had some rest, Shadow. Are we ready to get the Green Chaos Emerald back from Eggman and Infinite?"

Shadow nodded, "Yes, everything's set. We have the light blue and purple ones. But knowing your reaction to them, Sonic stayed miles away. The ones we already gathered, he stashed away in a secret vault in Zuko's palace. He'll get those once we're completely ready to leave and you've recovered from this upcoming fight. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Aang nodded, "It's because of you that Zuko took his rightful role and I'm able to start fulfilling mine, so yes, I want to do this."

Shadow told him, "All right, take my hand. We'll get there faster if I bring you."

Aang looked confused but nodded and took hold of Shadow's hand.

Not long after, Shadow skated at top speed to where he was sensing the power of the green Chaos Emerald and the Phantom Ruby, where he saw Sonic already sprawled out on the ground and wounded. Growling, the black and red hedgehog released Aang's hand, dashed to Sonic, picked him up, moved him and set him down. He told Infinite, "You were beating up the wrong hedgehog, Infinite! Shall we see who is the strongest?"

Infinite chuckled and said, "I believe _I _am the real Ultimate Lifeform now, Shadow. The powers of these two gems are more than enough to crumple any kind of resistance I might encounter!"

Shadow smirked, "Really? We'll see about that."

The two started to fight, and about halfway through, it looked like it was going nowhere. All they were doing was tiring each other out, but a lot of damage was being done to the terrain around them. And the power emanating from the two fighters was giving Aang a headache. Being reminded of the Firenation's war by their struggle, he shouted, "STOP! Infinite, why can't you just give Sonic back what is rightfully his? Why do you have to _fight_ to decide who deserves the power-ups?"

Infinite chuckled and responded, "Because there is no other way to find out who is the strongest, my boy. But I am sure you know that very well, with the kind of struggles _you _have been through."

Aang trembled and responded, "What does it matter who is stronger? All that matters is what is in your heart and what you do with the strength that is given to you. That is what Monk Gyatso always taught me, and that's what I live by."

Eggman clapped his hands and told Aang, "Lovely speech, little prayer boy. But that is all it is. Pretty language to cover up inadequacy. You know what the Firelord told me about you? He told me that you are the last of your kind, part of a civilization that died a little over a hundred years ago, an air nomad. He told me that your nation was weak and lacked strong leadership. He also told me that you ran away and that in fact, you _were _the reason that they were wiped out. How does _that _make you feel?"

Sonic growled, "Stop playing on his emotions, Eggman! He's been through enough already!" He then leapt up and homing attacked the Eggmobile, knowing that Aang's people were a touchy subject for the teen. He then lunged and attempted to grab the Green Chaos Emerald from Infinite.

Infinite moved out of the way and laughed, "Not so easy."

Going into full Avatar state because of how Eggman had badmouthed his homeland, Aang yelled, "It makes me feel _terrible _knowing all of that, Eggman! I do not need _you _rubbing salt on that wound! Now…are we gonna do this?!"

Eggman cackled, "Oh-ho, you bet we are, my boy! And the winner…gets both the Phantom Ruby _and _all the Chaos Emeralds. What do you think about that?"

Metal Sonic then flew up, having been watching from a tree, and added, "I think that sounds like a good idea. Shall I help you, Doctor?"

Aang folded his arms, "Come on…3 on 2? That's hardly fair."

Sonic told Aang, running top speed up to the teen, "Yeah, but he's never been one to fight fair. What else is new?"

Aang shrugged and the fight for the Green Chaos Emerald began.

It ended 6 and a half hours later, with Aang and Sonic barely coming out as the winners. Taking the Chaos Emerald and giving an exhausted smile, Sonic nodded, "We can finally go home."

Aang nodded, "Nice job. Let's…go…home." With that, the young Avatar blacked out, his body exhausted from the continued exposure to the foreign energies.

Sonic frowned and picked up Aang, rushing him back to Ba Sing Se in spite of how tired he was. When he reached the gates, he blacked out and lightly tossed Aang to the ground several feet in front of him. Seeing the two in such bad condition, the guards quickly alerted some medical personnel and Sonic and Aang were both rushed into the hospital.

Worried and wanting to see her fiancé, Katara quickly rushed there as well and begged the hospital staff, "Please, can I see Avatar Aang? I'm about to marry him."

The nurse at the desk told her, "I'm sorry, but we can't let anyone in right now. Their condition is still critical."

Katara teared up and then sat down on one of the benches in the waiting area, then broke down crying. Sokka hugged his sister and reassured her quietly that Aang would pull through, as he had a nasty stubborn streak and wouldn't let anything keep him down.

Katara nodded and continued to wait, eventually dozing off.

The next day, a nurse woke Sokka, who woke Katara. She asked, "Avatar Aang? How is he?"

The nurse nodded, "We've stabilized him. He's resting comfortably alongside the blue…whatever it was from before. Is there anything else I can do for you two?"

Katara answered, "Can I go in and see him?"

The nurse told her, "Only for a few moments. He needs his rest."

Katara nodded, "I know. I'll be right out. Thank you." She ran to the room Aang was in, and hugged him, then kissed his forehead, "Hey sweetie. How are you?"

Aang answered softly, having been only half-asleep when she walked in, but still feeling painfully weak, "I feel like I've been run over by a sky bison. But…I'll survive. You?"

Katara told him, "I'll be a lot better when you're out of here, honey." She then knelt by his bed and broke down crying again.

Aang told her, "If you calm down and let me sleep, I might get better sooner than you think."

Katara nodded, "I'll go. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Do you know when you're out of here?"

Aang answered, "They told me it'd be a few days."

Katara groaned, "I didn't know how rough the fight was. I'm sorry."

Aang shook his head, "Don't apologize, Katara. We didn't ask for that. By the way, how is Sonic?"

Katara glanced into the other room at Sonic, then told him, "He's not awake yet. He's hooked up to a lot of machines though. I think he's lucky to be alive after all that. And you are too." She kissed him again and then told him, "I'll let you get some rest now though. Thanks for letting me in."

Aang nodded, "I'll always let you in, sweetie."

Katara smiled and nodded back, then left.

Meanwhile, at the Fire Nation capital, Eggman and Infinite were being charged with attempted murder in a Firenation court. After what was deemed a fair trial, they were given a sentence of life imprisonment and thrown in jail, for assaulting the Avatar and his compatriots. Zuko told the bailiff, after they had been given a guilty verdict, "Lock them up. I'll keep the key somewhere safe and where only I will know where it is. Given that these two aren't native to our world, I imagine Sonic and his friends will want to enact justice for them on their world as well. So, we'll keep him under lock and key until they're ready to go. Does that sound fair, Mai?"

Mai smiled and nodded, "Of course, my lord. Everything sounds great when it comes out of your mouth, Zuko."

Zuko rolled his eyes and shrugged, unsure of how true that was, but nonetheless moved by her words. He then locked Eggman and Infinite's cell, hid the key and went to bed.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sooo, this is it! The very last chapter. I wasn't sure I would ever get here. But I'm glad i did. I can now move on to other things if I so desire. At some point, I would like to do a breath of the wild and Sonic crossover. But let's take this one step at a time. I will start with the legend of korra one whenever I publish another crossover.

Chaotic bending

Chapter 9: Super Hedgehogs, the Avatar's Heart and Forever Friendships

A few days later, after Aang had recovered from most of his illness, he asked Katara, "Did we…get it back? Can Sonic and his friends go home?"

Sonic nodded in response and told the young teen, "Yeah, we've got all the Chaos Emeralds. We were just waiting for you to get better. We'll probably need your help to open up a portal. Are you up to helping us with that yet?"

Aang smiled and nodded, then looked to Katara, who still seemed a little skeptical. He told his girlfriend, "Katara, I really do feel fine. I think I've finally adjusted to being around the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic, you have all of them on you right now, correct?"

Sonic chuckled and told the teenager, "Yeah, how'd you guess? See, Katara, he's fine. I think if he was going to regress to being sick again when exposed to them, he would have already fallen, and he hasn't. So, let's get started with all of this. Well, we will once Zuko and his guards get here."

Sokka folded his arms and asked Sonic and friends, "And _why _do we have to wait for them again?"

Shadow reminded Sokka, "We have to wait for them so that Infinite and Eggman get sent back too. If they aren't, they will continue to cause problems for Zuko and the Fire Nation, and it's not right to drop our problems on all of you. You're welcome."

Katara nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we have enough problems of our own. I'd rather not have two more potential headaches, thank you." She looked over as she heard yelling in the distance, and recognized Zuko's angry tone. She also heard some pain in his voice and sighed, "Sonic, you and Aang had better get ready. Zuko doesn't like to waste time when it comes to dealing with issues, and it sounds like Infinite and Eggman were giving him a rough time."

Sonic smirked and said, "So we have something in common. I don't like to waste time either." He looked over and saw Eggman and Infinite both in chains, being dragged in and then dropped on the ground like pieces of garbage by Fire Nation soldiers. Moments later, Zuko fell to his knees, groaning softly and rubbing his forehead.

Gasping, Katara and Toph both ran to Zuko's side. Katara asked, "Zuko, what's wrong? Did they do something to hurt you?"

Infinite cackled and told the waterbender, "The fat one may not have, but I certainly did, my girl. I could do the same to your fiancé if you'd like."

Katara glared at Infinite and responded, "You lay _one finger _on Aang, and I'll drown you. I don't care if it'll cause a cosmic imbalance, I really love Aang and letting beings from other worlds mess with him is _not _something I have ever considered. So you best keep that Phantom Ruby of yours in check."

Zuko told Katara softly, still having a small headache from what Infinite had done, "It's okay, Katara. Aang and I were the last ones he was able to use it on. It's powerless now. I can sense it." He looked to his airbending friend and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Aang nodded, "I'm fine. We should get everything ready to send Sonic and the others back though, while the timing is right."

Toph asked him, "Are you sure about this, twinkle-toes? I mean, the Chaos Emeralds and Phantom Ruby made you really sick before."

Aang responded, "I'm sure, Toph. Besides, I'm sure Sonic and the others are feeling extremely homesick by this point."

Tails nodded and told the earthbender, "Yeah, we actually are. While Eggman can't do anything since he's here with us, he probably won't waste time when we get back. He may not be able to do something _immediately_, but he won't hesitate to plan something against us." He looked at Eggman and glared, knowing the mad scientist _too _well.

Eggman frowned and said, "Some trust you're showing there, Tails."

Tails responded, "What reason do we have to trust you? You've held Sonic captive and tortured him before! And worse, you've blown up the moon and ripped the world apart, literally! So, no, we don't trust you. But right now, we have no choice except to travel with you. Just do all of us a favor and _be quiet_ the whole way there. Okay?"

Infinite told the young fox, "Does that mean I can talk?"

Sonic shook his head, "No, Zero. You can't talk. You have to keep quiet too."

Infinite growled and said, "My name is Infinite, Sonic. Or have you forgotten what I did to you?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes and walked right up to Infinite, "I haven't forgotten. But I've done one better than most others could. I've forgiven you because you were under the influence of the Phantom Ruby and Eggman. But don't think we won't be keeping an eye on you. And you _are _Zero, whether you admit to it or not. Because without the Phantom Ruby, you really are nothing. So…just give up on looking tough. It won't happen." He then looked to Aang and nodded, indicating that he was ready to activate the Chaos Emeralds. He then looked to Shadow and Silver, to indicate to them that only seconds from now, he was going to do so and share some power with them.

Shadow nodded and told Sonic, "I will be ready."  
Silver added, "I'll be ready as well, Sonic."

Aang replied, "Give me a few seconds, and I'll be ready too, Sonic." He sat on the floor cross-legged and surrounded himself in green crystal, concentrating in order to reach the Avatar state. Moments later, he reached it, and his eyes and symbols glowed. He broke the crystal surrounding him and nodded to Sonic, Shadow and Silver.

Sonic smiled and nodded, "Looks like you're ready. Let's do this, guys. Katara, are you, Zuko and Toph still planning to help?"

Katara nodded and got out her water, "Whenever you guys are ready, yes."

Zuko told the Blue Blur, "Yes, I am. Ready when you are, Shadow."

Toph responded, "I'm ready."

Not long after that, Sonic activated the Chaos Emeralds and became Super Sonic. He then shared some power with Shadow and Silver, then nodded to Katara, Zuko and Toph, who used a great deal of their power to help Aang form an energy portal to their world. Aang teared up during all of this, saddened by the prospect of not seeing Sonic again. The Blue Blur noticed this and patted Aang's arm, to keep him from losing concentration, "Aang, it's okay. You'll see us all again some day. If not here, then in the next life. Okay?"

Aang sniffled and nodded, then knelt down and gave Sonic a hug.

Sonic rubbed his back, then released him and nodded to Katara, Zuko and Toph. He helped them keep the portal open as Super Sonic, and told Tails, Knuckles and Shadow, "You guys go on through and take Eggman and Infinite. Knowing them, they'll probably immediately break free and go do their own things, but that's all right so long as they don't give Sally or anyone else any trouble. I doubt Zero will, but Eggman? Not a safe bet to leave him alone for long. See you guys in a few."

Knuckles and Tails nodded, and Knuckles grabbed Eggman by the back of his chains and dragged him through, while Tails flew and took Infinite with him. Once they were through, Blaze hugged Katara and thanked her for being a friend, then went back as well. Once all of Sonic's friends were through, he gave Katara, Zuko and Toph each a hug, knowing that they would miss him and that the reverse was also true. He then told them sadly, "I guess I'll be seeing you guys. Aang, Katara, take care of each other and Zuko…please, stop feeling so overwhelmed. I know ruling is a lot pressure but don't let it get to you. Don't turn out like your Dad. Okay? Promise me. Just like you made Aang promise to kill you if you ever did."

Zuko glared and looked at Aang, then nodded to Sonic, "I promise that I'll do my best, Sonic. Farewell."

With all of that said and done, Sonic walked through the portal, then asked Silver and Shadow to help him close the portal from their end, while Aang and his friends closed it from their side. Now that everyone was back where they belonged, their lives could return to their normal pace. Whatever their normal pace was going to be.


End file.
